|
A subsidiary of the Bimantara group, PT Mobile-8 Telecom,
announced Monday that it would team up with PT Samsung Electronics of
Korea to expand its nationwide network starting this year.
The venture will be worth US$375 million, Mobile-8 said.
"We plan to expand our coverage outside Java island so that we can
increase our network capacity to more than 20 million subscribers
nationwide by 2012," Mobile-8's chief technical officer, Lukas
Heryanto, said.
The company, which currently has 1.8 million subscribers, holds a 3
percent share of the national cellular market and hopes to secure 2.2
million additional subscribers by the end of 2007.
The country's fourth largest cellular operator plans to increase the
number of its base transceiver stations (BTS) from the current 440 in
Java to 1,900 to cover Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan and Bali.
Mobile-8 chief operating officer Chee Pok Jin said that the capital
expenditure would come from some of last year's IPO proceeds, plus $70
million in loans from the New York-based Lehmen Commercial Paper Inc.
Last November, Mobile-8 generated Rp 877 billion ($97 million) in
capital from the sale of 19 percent of its shares on the Jakarta Stock
Exchange.
|
