Indosat mulls StarOne spin-off plan (Indonesia)
Indosat, Indonesia’s second largest telecoms group by subscribers is considering spinning off its code division multiple access (CDMA) unit StarOne in a bid to make the group more competitive.
According to the Telco’s President Harry Sasongko, Indosat is currently conducting an internal review to gain momentum as the sector has shown an upward trend, with most of the nation’s 230 million people having access to a mobile phone. Although no decision has yet been taken, a constant slide of subscribers from StarOne has reportedly hampered Indosat’s overall growth, which is dominated by its cellular business. The idea of spinning off StarOne has been under consideration since 2008. They will finalize a decision as soon as the assessment is done.
Indosat also seeks refinance debts in 2011 and 2012 using the remaining funds it raised from bond sales. Indosat has US$420 million left from 2010′s bond sales which generated a total of US$650 million.
Indonesian anti-monopoly agency considers buying Temasek assets
Indonesia’s anti-monopoly agency is considering seizing assets owned by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings unless a local subsidiary does not pay a court-imposed fine.
According to the anti-monopoly agency, Temasek had breached antitrust laws by using its indirect stakes in two local mobile networks, Telkomsel and Indosat to fix prices.
The company was fined US$17 million in May 2010 after appealing against court rulings dating back to 2007. Temasek sold its stake in Indosat to Qatar Telecom in 2008 following a separate court ruling.
According to Tresna Soemardi, the agency’s chairman, they are now inventorying Temasek’s assets and expect to complete the activity in 2011, these assets would stand be seized unless the fine is paid.
According to Muhammad Reza, the agency’s Chief of Investigations, once the company has been formally notified of the fine and doesn’t pay it, the Indonesian anti-monopoly commission may ask for a court order to seize the said companies assets.
Temasek Holdings is an investment company owned by the government of Singapore, and it has a 55% stake in Singapore Telecom (SingTel), which in turn owns 35% of Indonesia’s Telkomsel.
Telkom and Indosat plan mutual satellite launch
Indonesian communications firms, Telkom and Indosat have come together to install a satellite for telecom as well as for HDTV services for $200 million.
As per the agreement, a new satellite will replace Indosat’s Palapa C-2, which will stop the course in 2014.
According to Telkom President, Rinaldi Firmansyah, Telkom and Indosat will spend up to US$200 million to purchase the new satellite, which will also be capable of delivering next generation high definition television (HDTV), and other bandwidth hungry telecoms services.
Indosat presently owns two satellites, whereas Telkom has two in operation and is planning to launch another satellite next year.
Indosat unveils Indonesia’s fastest network
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Sweden’s Ericsson has been selected by PT Indosat, Indonesia’s second largest telecoms operator by revenues to upgrade and modernize its network. Unveiling of its new Ericsson-supplied HSPA Evolution network capable of maximum transmission speeds of 42Mbps Asia’s fastest mobile network is also on the cards.
The main aim of the network modernization programme is to accelerate Indosat efforts to migrate to next generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. It will also help to improve the quality of its infrastructure by introducing features that reduce energy consumption and footprint, making the network more environmentally friendly while reducing operating costs.
Radio Base Station (RBS) 6000, MSS Blade Cluster, and MINI-LINK TN equipment will be provided by Ericsson under the deal along with network design, deployment, and training and support services.
Qatar Telecom reports increase in turnover
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Consolidated group financial and operational results for 2009 has been posted by Qatar Telecom in which 20.5% increase in the net profit attributable to shareholders has been revealed, going up from up from QAR2.3 billion in 2008 to QAR2.8 billion (USD765 million) in the full-year. The company showed 15.1 percent increase in the EBITDA going up to QAR 11.3 billion.
The consolidated customer base of the group stood at 60.5 million at December 31, 2009. Entry of Qtel’s first mobile competitor, Vodafone Qatar affected the domestic EBITDA which fell to QAR3.3 billion.
The Indonesian unit of the company, Indosat’s subscriber base at end-December 2009 stood at 33.7 million, down from 37.0 million a year earlier. Removal of a significant proportion of the lower-value, calling card type behavior subscribers’ from its base over the twelve-month period has been cited as reason behind this decrease.
The total active subscribers of Asiacell increased by 20.4% during 2009 as a result of which the year closed at 7.35 million, revenue increased by 40.4% to QAR4.0 billion and EBITDA increased by 43.9% to QAR2.2 billion.
Indosat might be acquired by XL Axiata (Indonesia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Indonesia’s second largest mobile operator, Indosat might be acquired by XL Axiata by the end of 2010. Strong subscriber and revenue growth has been aimed by XL Axiata this year and it has also been confirmed by the company that dividend payments were likely to resume this year following a return to profit in 2009.
86.5% of XL Axiata is owned by Malaysia’s Axiata Group and 13.3% is owned by Etisalat of the UAE while the remaining 0.2% is publicly held.
Telkomsel warn market saturation in Indonesia, aim for 15m new subscribers
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: According to Indonesia’s largest mobile operator, Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), the growth potential in the local market is ‘shrinking’ and will hit a plateau in two year The company expects to get at least 15 million of about 35 million new users expected.
An aggressively competitive mobile sector driven by a wave of tariff cutting in the world’s fourth most populous country, Indonesia, has expanded to around 165 million users. With 85 million customers, up from just 16.3 million users at 31 December 2004, Telkomsel aims to reach 100-million subscribers by the end of 2010.
Although a surplus of smaller operators exist in Indonesia, Telkomsel controls a little over 50% of the market ahead of major rivals Indosat and Excelcomindo.
