Verdict on Temasek Indon case in Nov

Indonesia's competition regulator will decide by early November whether Temasek Holdings used its indirect stakes in the nation's two biggest mobile-phone operators to fix prices, the agency's chairman Mohammad Iqbal said. [more, todayonline]

COMPTEL: Indonesia's Excelcomindo Deploys Comptel Convergent Mediation Solution™

Comptel Corporation (OMX Helsinki: CTL1V), the leading vendor of dynamicOperations Support System (OSS) software, announced today that PTExelcomindo Pratama Tbk (XL), has deployed Comptel Convergent MediationSolution. This Comptel solution was implemented in collaboration withlocal system integrator Lintas Teknologi in less than two months fromcontract to delivery, including the delivery of the most critical partin just one month. The Comptel Mediation Solution replaces another 3rdparty solution that had failed to meet XL's expectations. [more, Kauppalehti Online]

Indonesian cell phone operators urged to lower charges

A study by a local university on the mobile telecommunications industry has found cell phone operators' high earnings mean they could afford to lower their charges.At present, industry players boast an average EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of more than 60 percent, according to the research by Indonesia's Padjadjaran University in Bandung. [more, people's daily online]

Global Mediacom acquires 62.63 million Mobile-8 shares

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Publicly-listed investment company PT Global Mediacom, formerly PT Bimantara Citra, has acquired 62,693,500 shares of telecommunication firm PT Mobile-8 Telecom, a Global Mediacom director said."The transaction was carried out on September 5-14. Each share was sold at Rp289," Hary Tanoesoedibjo told the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam)-(Financial Institution) here Friday. [more, antaranews]

PT Indosat Tbk "underperform," target price raised

LONDON, September 21 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Credit Suisse maintain their "underperform" rating on PT Indosat Tbk (ticker: IDO1), while reducing their estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from Rp5350 to Rp5750. [more, newratings]

Fitch Comments on Indonesia's Third IDD Licence Award

Fitch Ratings says that the recent award of a third international direct dialing (IDD) licence to fixed-wireless operator PT Bakrie Telecom (Bakrie) carries neutral implications for existing IDD operators PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT Indosat Tbk (Indosat) over the near to medium term. At the same time, Fitch notes that the outcome of the licensing was somewhat unexpected, with Bakrie emerging successful over larger rival PT Excelcomindo Pratama (XL). New mobile entrant PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler was also unsuccessful in its bid. [more, cellular-news]

Indosat plans USD213m network expansion

Indonesia’s second largest communications company Indosat has announced it is borrowing USD213 million from a local bank in order to fund its network expansion plans. According to Bloomberg, Indosat will use the funds to improve capacity, including the addition of 2,118 mobile phone towers in 2007, bringing the total to 8,366. [more, telegeography]

INDONESIA: Residents protest telco company

Jakarta --- More than 500 residents of Kebahar Dukuh village in Serang, Banten province, staged a rally against a cellular phone operator demanding compensation for harm they say was caused by a telecommunication tower in their neighborhood.
The rally turned violent when the residents breached a perimeter fence, attempting to scale the tower.
The tower, built ten years ago, belongs to telecommunications operator Excelcomindo (XL). [more, asiamedia]

18-09-007: Indonesia's Bakrie wins IDD licence from government

JAKARTA: Indonesian mobile phone operator PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk has won a licence to enter the long distance call market, beating its larger rival, PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk, a government official said late on Sept 17.
Bakrie Telecom, controlled by the family of Chief Social Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, has been an aggressive player in the fixed wireless market since 2003, and has been seeking to expand its reach in the overall telecoms market. [more, theedgedaily]

UPDATE: Bakrie Telecom Gets International Call License - Official

JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- The Indonesian government has awarded cellular call operator PT Bakrie Telecom (BTEL.JK) 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. [more, cnnmoney]

Nokia Intellisync powers Indosat’s mobile office

Indonesian telco Indosat says its cellular arm Satelindo has inked a deal with Nokia for the supply of a mobile e-mail solution. [more, telegeography]

UPDATE: Bakrie Telecom Gets International Call License - Official

JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- The Indonesian government has awarded cellular call operator PT Bakrie Telecom (BTEL.JK) a license to operate international fixed- line call services, a senior government official told reporters Monday. [more, cnnmoney]

Indonesia's Mobile-8 ratings affirmed after completion of bond issue - Moody's

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Moody's Investors Service affirmed the 'B2' corporate family rating of PT Mobile-8 Telecom Tbk, Indonesia's fourth-largest cellular operator.
At the same time, Moody's (nyse: MCO - news - people ) affirmed the 'B2' rating for the 100 mln usd senior unsecured 11.25 pct bond due 2013 issued by Mobile-8 Telecom Finance Company BV and guaranteed by Mobile-8 after the completion of the bond issuance. [more, forbes]

Pay TV operators file legal complaint against Astro

Three local pay TV operators have filed a legal complaint with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) accusing the pay TV network Astro TV Indonesia of unfair business practices.
The local operators, PT Indosat Mega Media (IM2 Pay TV), PT Indonesia Telemedia (Telkomvision) and PT MNC Sky Vision (Indovision), said Friday that PT Direct Vision, which operates the Astro pay TV service in Indonesia, had unfairly secured the exclusive rights to live broadcasts of the Barclays English Premier League in Indonesia. [more, thejakartapost (subsc.)]

Press Council condemns Telkom for releasing journalist's phone logs

The Indonesian Press Council condemned Friday state-owned telecommunication services provider PT Telkom for giving the text messaging records of a journalist to law enforcement official.
Earlier this week, Jakarta Police summoned Tempo magazine journalist Metta Dharmasaputra for questioning concerning a tax fraud case after getting his text messaging records from PT Telkom. [more, thejakartapost (subsc)]

Esia enters E. Java CDMA market, TelkomFlexi offers special rates

Cellular phone operator PT Bakrie Telecom, through its CDMA brand Esia, has expanded its services to the East Java cities of Surabaya and Malang.
Supported by 102 base transceiver stations in the two cities, the company is upbeat about competing with other CDMA operators and more established players in the area, Bakrie vice president director Erik Meijer said. [more, thejakartapost (subsc.)]

PT Smart Telecom Indonesia Selects OceanLake's MobileMail Platform MobileMail to be included in selected service plans for PT Smart customers

Singapore and Toronto, Ontario CANADA, September 14, 2007 /FSC/ - Oceanlake Commerce Inc. (OLI - TSX Venture, OLIKF - OTCBB_Pink_Sheets), announced today that it has entered into a managed services agreement with PT Smart Telecom (Indonesia) to utilize the OceanLake MobileMail service platform. Smart Telecom will be bundling mobile email as part of selected service plans to make it available to all new subscribers. [more, usetdas]

Fasilitas Telekomunikasi TELKOM Paska Gempa Bengkulu Telah Pulih

Jakarta, 13 September 2007 - Pelayanan PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. (TELKOM) mengalami gangguan fasilitas telekomunikasi pada hari Senin, 12 September 2007sebagai akibat terjadinya gempa bumi di Bengkulu. Menurut Vice President Public and Marketing Communication TELKOM, Eddy Kurnia, gangguan fasilitas telekomunikasi TELKOM terjadi di wilayah Muara Aman tetapi telah pulih kembali sedangkan di wilayah Muko-Muko diharapkan malam ini akan berfungsi normal. [more, telkom]

Now, Idea roamers to get seamless experience

NEW DELHI: Mumbai-Based cellular service provider Idea Cellular has joined the Asia Mobility Initiative (AMI) Alliance, a regional international roaming alliance, that will give users seamless roaming experience. The AMI alliance now has six GSM members — Celcom (Malaysia), MobileOne (Singapore), Excelcomindo (Indonesia), Telstra (Australia) and DTAC (Thailand), apart from Idea — with a combined subscriber base of over 58 million. Asia-Pacific accounts for 34% of the industry’s outbound roaming traffic. [more, indiatimes]

Trendsmedia and Beacon Events to Produce WiMAX World Asia 2008

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trendsmedia, the events and publishing division of Yankee Group Research, Inc. and Beacon Events announced today that they will co-produce the second annual WiMAX World Asia Conference and Exposition to be held in Bangkok, March 18-20, 2008. WiMAX World is the largest global event series in the world focused on WiMAX and wireless and mobile broadband. For more information on WiMAX World visit: www.wimaxworld.com [more, businesswire]

Indonesia's Telkomsel Debt Ratings Held at Stable

... Fitch says that Telkomsel's ratings reflect its entrenched position as Indonesia's leading cellular operator and favourable growth prospects. It is 65% owned by the incumbent Telekomunikasi Indonesia, and 35% owned by Singapore Telecommunications, from whom Telkomsel derives operational benefits and technological support. As the largest beneficiary of ongoing robust industry growth, the company has achieved consistently impressive operating results - total subscribers increased to 42.8 million at H107 from 35.6m at FYE06, implying annualised growth of 41% and a market share of around 56%. [more, celluler-news]

KPPU, the ideal watchdog for unfair competition

... Take the allegations directed at Indosat, Telkomsel and Temasek, for instance. It is alleged that through its indirect ownership in the two largest cellular telecommunication companies in Indonesia, Temasek has created a false price equilibrium in which it profited heavily through price fixing. The allegation is of course denied by Temasek, Indosat and Telkomsel. Arguments regarding the government's role in setting tariffs and prices were used in order to deflect the allegations. [more, thejakartapost]

Esia enters E. Java CDMA market, TelkomFlexi offers special rates

Cellular phone operator PT Bakrie Telecom, through its CDMA brand Esia, has expanded its services to the East Java cities of Surabaya and Malang.
Supported by 102 base transceiver stations in the two cities, the company is upbeat about competing with other CDMA operators and more established players in the area, Bakrie vice president director Erik Meijer said. [more, thejakartapost]

Indonusa Chooses Harmonic For Satellite Pay TV Service

09/05/07 - Satellite Today] PT Indonusa Telemedia has implemented Harmonic's technology into its direct-to-home satellite service in Indonesia, the company announced Sept. 4. Indonusa Telemedia is using Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 1000 multi-channel MPEG-2 standard definition encoders, as well as the ProStream 1000 stream processing platform with ProCipher scrambling technology used for both multiplexing and encryption, and the NMX Digital Service Manager for end-to-end monitoring and control of the video service. Indonusa is a subsidiary company of Telkom Indonesia Group. The company has a goal of reaching 120,000 subscribers by the end of 2007 and one million subscribers by 2010. [more, satellitetoday]

Indosat clarifies disturbance in cellular network

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Publicly-listed state-owed telecommunicatons operator PT Indosat has filed an official report to the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulating Agency (BRTI) clarifying a disturbance in its cellular networks in a number of locations in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi on Friday night and Saturday."We clarified the disturbance this morning and reported the case to the telecommunications regulating agency," Adita Irawati, PT Indost`s head of public relations, said here on Monday [more, antaranews]

Bakrie Telecom to sell affordable cell phones

PT Bakrie Telecom, whose cellular business trades under the Esia brand, is to sell handsets at relatively affordable prices, in cooperation with China-based vendor Huawei, so as to help boost the number of its subscribers to 3.6 million by the end of the year.
Vice president Erik Meijer said Monday that the handsets, plus Rp 50,000-worth of Esia talktime, would be sold at Rp 199,000 (US$21), excluding tax. [more, thejakartapost]