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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Bakrie Telecom'

Indonesia’s mobile penetration may reach 62.4% in 2010 (Indonesia)

  • September 1st, 2008
  • 6:55 am

Indonesia’s mobile market has growing rapidly with the number of subscribers heading for 120 million in 2008, up from 90 million in early 2008, having grown by nearly 40% in 2007. There is vast opportunity for market expansion in Indonesia when compared with some of its Asian neighbours.  For strong growth to continue, the sector must take advantage of the government’s regulatory changes and find ways of attracting more foreign capital into the market place. Value-added services have become important and 3G has arrived.

OPERATOR                                 SUBSCRIBERS (IN MILLION)
Telkomsel                                                   50.55
Indosat                                                      26.42
Excelcomindo                                              22.42
PT Mobile8                                                    3.77
3                                                                 3.21
Sampoerna Telekomunikasi Indonesia             0.41

Smart Telecom                                               0.5
Bakrie Telecom                                              4.46
Telkom                                                         6.69

Notable highlights of the Indonesia Mobile Forecast include:

  • Indonesia continues to be the most profitable market in East Asia. It is forecasted that average EBITDA margins in Indonesia at 63.7% in 2010. Telkomsel, in particular, will continue to be one of the most profitable wireless operators in the world with an EBITDA margin of 68.2%.
  • The wireless penetration level in Indonesia is steadily increasing. It will increase from the projected 50.9% in 2008 to 62.4% in 2010. The number of total subscribers will increase from 115.8 million to 146.2 million from 2008 - 2010.
  • Although the total subscriber base will continue to grow, Telkomsel, the largest operator in the country, will be losing its market share to competitors. According to the forecast that the market share (by subscribers) of Telkomsel will decrease from the projected 50.4% in 2008 to 47.9% in 2010.

   

Village Phone Program launches in Indonesia (Indonesia)

  • July 30th, 2008
  • 8:10 am

Bangladeshi Grameen Foundation in colaboration with Indonesia’s Bakrie Telecom and Qualcomm have launched the first Village Phone Program in Indonesia, branded as Uber ESIA, using 3G CDMA technology to provide affordable wireless telecommunications services for rural communities.

The trio will be working with local Indonesian microfinance institutions to enable microfinance clients to borrow the money needed to purchase a Village Phone “business in a box,” which consists of a wireless 3G CDMA-based phone and charger, marketing materials, tariff posters, business cards and training materials. The Village Phone Operators (VPOs) will operate their businesses in rural villages where telecommunications services did not previously exist, renting the use of the phone within their communities on a per-call basis.

The VPOs will provide affordable rates to their subscribers, while earning enough to repay their loan and earn a profit that will allow them to make investments in their family’s health, nutrition and education, and in other business ventures. The project aims to empower underserved communities in rural Indonesia with mobile communications using Bakrie Telecom’s Uber ESIA service based on 3G CDMA wireless technology. Another plus point of this program will be empowering women who live in rural area.

   

Bakrie Telecom – you’ve been Tango’d

  • May 13th, 2008
  • 3:20 pm

Indonesian fixed wireless operator Bakrie Telecom has installed a short message service centre (SMSC) platform from messaging and real-time charging developer Tango Telecom on its network. Telecomworldwire reports the SMSC was implemented in conjunction with Tango’s flexible next generation iAXT SMS MAX platform, which it claims is capable of providing fast value added SMS services deployment. The solution is designed to store and forward, real-time charging and inter-working between GSM and CDMA networks it said, while iAXT SMS MAX provides anti-spam capabilities and SMS forwarding. The new platform will help Bakrie Telecom introduce revenue-generating VAS quickly to subscribers while protecting the subscriber base from unwanted and malicious spam.

   

 

 

Indonesian Cellular Operator Gets International Fixed-line License (Indonesia)

  • September 18th, 2007
  • 8:30 am

The Indonesian government has awarded cellular call operator PT Bakrie Telecom a license to operate international fixed-line call services, a senior government official told reporters Monday.”We awarded the license to Bakrie Telecom as the company meets all the requirement to operate the services,” Director General of Post and Telecommunication Basuki Yusuf Iskandar told reporters.

As part of the license, Bakrie will have to develop a fixed-line gateway to allow international calls to be made.

“We will give Bakrie Telecom five years to build its first network and international gateway connecting Batam, Singapore and the U.S.,” Iskandar said, adding that U.S.-based Verizon Communications will assist Bakrie in the development of the gateway. He didn’t elaborate.

He added that the government will fine the company if it fails to build the gateway within the five-year period.

He didn’t specify how big the fine would be.

Bakrie will also be obliged to develop a network that will connect Kupang, a city in East Nusatenggara, to Darwin in a second five-year period.

“So, within ten years, we expect the company will have a solid backbone to support its business,” he said, adding that Bakrie may start developing the networks this year and commercialize the services in three years.

He said that for the first five years, Bakrie will need to spend IDR222.899 billion to build the international gateway.

Two other cellular phone companies - PT Excelcomindo Pratama and unlisted PT Natrindo - failed to get the license.

Bakrie Telecom is controlled by the Bakrie Group conglomerate.

   

Bakrie Telecom targeting 3.6 million customers this year

  • July 22nd, 2007
  • 6:30 pm

Bakrie Telecom, the communications arm of Indonesia’s Bakrie and Brothers, reported gross revenues of IDR580 billion (USD63.7 million) in its fiscal Q1 to 30 June 2007, up 63% from IDR355 billion in the same period of 2006, says The Jakarta Post. The CDMA operator, which offers mobile services under the brand name Esia, attributed the strong performance to a 112% leap in subscriber numbers: by the end of June the company had doubled its base in a year to 2.2 million. The operator’s President director Anindya Novyan Bakrie said the firm is now targeting 3.6 million subscribers by the end of the year. To help achieve this goal Bakrie will, next month, begin work on expanding its coverage to 34 cities, up from the current 17 cities covered in Greater Jakarta, and West Java and Banten provinces. The plan will see the number of base stations in operation doubling to 800, while the increased footprint is expected to generate customer additions of 500,000 towards its overall year-end target of 3.6 million. The company has set aside about USD220 million for capital expenditure this year to finance its expansion plans, USD70 million of which will be raised from vendor financing, USD95 million from bank borrowing and USD55 million from bonds.

Bakrie also operates a Wifone wireless fixed service, Wimode wireless internet service and the Esia-tel chain of telephone kiosks.

   
 

Seven Indonesia telcos band together to deploy fibre network

  • May 26th, 2007
  • 9:57 am

A group of seven Indonesian telecoms operators plan to build a USD1.5 billion national fibre-optic network to alleviate the country’s overloaded telecoms infrastructure and improve access in remote regions, writes the Financial Times. The paper says the companies will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the Palapa Ring project today, which will see the roll out of 57,000km of cables across all 440 districts over the next two years. The Palapa Ring is designed to redress the lack of high quality internet access in Indonesia. Less than 10% of the population use the internet on a regular basis, and only 3% have broadband. The new fibre network is expected to benefit a host of business and residential users once it is complete. Indonesia’s dominant telecoms operator Telkom is taking a 45% stake in the consortium handling the project. Other shareholders are Bakrie Telecom, Excelcomindo Pratama, Indosat, Powertek Utama Internusa and Macca System Infocom, each with a 10% interest, and Infokom Elektrindo (5%).