ID :
339672
Mon, 09/01/2014 - 13:02
Auther :

Telkom Indonesia To Expand To New Zealand

Jakarta, Sept 1 (Antara) - Indonesian telecommunication services company, PT Telkom Indonesia, has developed its business in the global market through an acquisition of 27 percent shares from an operator company Telecom New Zealand. "In addition to mobile, we have decided that the new growth engine of Telkom Indonesia will be broadband, and international expansion. We are still giving due diligence to acquire 27 percent of shares owned by Telecom NZ," Director of Telkom Indonesia Arief Yahya reported here on Monday. According to Arief, the acquisition of Telecom NZ`s shares is Telkom`s strategy of becoming a global player. The targeted stocks are from private equity, for which the funding comes from internal and external sources. "The transaction value cannot be disclosed because still the process is underway. Telkom has current assets of around Rp40 trillion, or US$3.4 billion," he pointed out. To penetrate the global market, Telkom should invest in western companies, such as New Zealand and Australia. Arief explained that Telkomsel, a subsidiary of Telkom, has been maintaining its Earnings before Interest Depreciation Ratio Amortization (EBITDA) margin at the range of 55 percent in the middle of competitive pressures. "Telkomsel can maintain its efficiency of average revenue per user (ARPU) of about US$3. Imagine if Telkomsel`s best practice was brought to Telecom NZ whose ARPU is around US$50 for data services and US$15 for voice," Arief noted. He expressed hope that if Telkom manages to acquire the shares, which is also known as Spark, the business strength of Telkom group will be maximal. On the official website of Telecom NZ published on August 8, 2014, it had introduced a new brand named Spark. The performance of Spark for the fiscal year of 2014, or the period that ended in June 2014, had about 2 million mobile customers and 669,000 broadband users. This year, Spark will maximize the frequency of 700 MHz, with an investment of around US$158 million. In the end of June 2014, Spark`s revenue was approximately US$3.638 billion, down 2.6 percent compared to that in the same period last year, amounting to US$3.735 billion. The profit is about US$460 million, up to 93.3 percent compared to that in the previous year that amounted to US$238 million. Some analysts have predicted that the acquisition could be a new catalyst for the stock of Spark. Telkom`s stock performance in the first half of 2014 so far had been recorded satisfactorily at the level of Rp2.785, or around US$0.24 per share, up to 48 percent compared to that of the stock price at the end of 2012.

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