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Three major Indonesian telecommunications players, PT
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), GSM-based mobile telecommunications
operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL) and CDMA-based telecommunications
operator PT Bakrie Telecom (BTEL), reported sharp rises in profits in
the first nine months of this year amid significant increases in
subscriber numbers.
Telkom, the nation's biggest company by value, said profit in the first
nine months of the year rose 62 percent as sales climbed and a stronger
rupiah eased its foreign-currency debt burden.
CDMA-based telecommunications operator PT Bakrie Telecom (BTEL) booked
a net profit of about Rp 52 billion in the period between January and
September, a turnaround from a net loss of Rp 112 billion during the
same period last year.
Meanwhile, PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL) reported a 59 percent rise in
gross revenues to Rp 1.54 trillion in the first three months of this
year from Rp 972 billion in the same period of 2005, also thanks to
substantial growth in the number of its subscribers.
Telkom's net income from January to September climbed to Rp 9.22
trillion ($1 billion), or Rp 458 a share, from Rp 5.7 trillion, or Rp
282 a share, a year earlier, the Bandung, West Java-based company said
in an e-mailed statement.
The company's total sales climbed to Rp 37.2 trillion from Rp 30.2
trillion, helped by an increase in revenue from its cellular business.
The company said it booked a foreign exchange gain of Rp 677.75 billion
in the nine months, compared with a loss of Rp 886.58 billion a year
earlier.
For its part, Bakrie Telecom said in a statement that the company's
gross revenues rose by 131 percent to Rp 588 billion in the first nine
months from Rp 254.41 billion in the same period last year, while the
company's net revenues rose by 159 percent to Rp 427 billion.
Bakrie Telecom's president director Anindya N. Bakrie said that the
sharp increase in revenues was due to a significant increase in the
number of firm's subscribers.
He said that the number of subscribers to its CDMA-based Esia fixed
wireless service reached 1.3 million as of September, as compared to
307,000 in the same month of 2005.
"With this significant increase, we have decided to revise up our
subscriber-numbers target for this year to 1.5 million from 1.3 million
previously," he said.
At present, Bakrie Telecom's Esia fixed wireless services provide
coverage in a number of major cities in West Java, including Bogor,
Serang, Cirebon, Purwakarta, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis and Cianjur, in
addition to Jakarta, Tangerang and Depok.
"We plan to expand our services to another seven cities in West Java by
the end of this year," Anindya said.
Excelcomindo said that the higher growth in revenues was caused by the
sharp increase in the number of its subscribers which rose by 43
percent to 8.4 million as of the end of September this year from 5.9
million in the same month last year.
Excelcomindo said that net income rose significantly to Rp 142 billion
in the third quarter. The company did not give a percentage for the net
income increase but said that earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization (EBTIDA) rose by 57 percent to Rp 712
billion as of the end of September from Rp 453 billion in the same
month last year.
Excelcomindo's president director Hasnul Suhaimi said that the company
spent a total of Rp 988 billion on capital investment during the first
nine months of this year, an increase of 11 percent from the same
period last year, in a bid to further improve the quality and coverage
of the company's cellular services.
He said the number of the company's base transceiver stations (BTS)
rose by 67 percent at the end of this year's third quarter to 6,052
from 3,620 in the same period last year.
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