CRM, Billing From FTS Picked for Indonesia's Sampoerna

FTS (News - Alert), a vendor of billing, CRM and business control products for communication and content service providers, has announced that Sampoerna Telecom Indonesia has deployed FTS' convergent prepaid-postpaid billing and customer care product for its entire subscriber base. [more, tmcnet]

Sampoerna Telecom Indonesia (STI) Successfully Deploys FTS' Convergent Prepaid-Postpaid Billing

LONDON, September 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FTS (LSE: FTS), a global
provider of Billing, CRM and Business Control solutions for communication and
content service providers, today announced that Sampoerna Telecom Indonesia
(STI), has successfully deployed FTS' convergent prepaid-postpaid billing and
customer care solution for its entire subscriber base. [more, earthtimes]

Two Bidders for Indonesian Tower Assets

Two investment firms, Saratoga Capital and Recapital are reported to be interested in buying the tower assets currently owned by Indonesian mobile operator Excelcomindo Pratama (XL). The company currently owns over 7,000 base stations, which it values at some US$550 million. [more, cellular-news]

KPK Name Two Suspects on Bribery Case

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Corruption Eradication Commission has named Mohammad Iqbal, member of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission and Billy Sindoro President Director of First Media as suspects for bribery less than a day after the arrest was made on them.

Muhammad Iqbal will be detained at Central Jakarta Ressort Police, while Billy will be detained at West Jakarta Ressort Police, both will be under police custody for 20 days.[more, tempointeraktif]

Mobile myths, competition demystified

David O'Brien, Jakarta

Dennis Pratistha has reopened the can of worms I alluded to earlier in the year in his piece of Aug. 11, Mobile phone industry shake-up. A subsequent piece by Jakarta Post staff on Aug. 19 looks at ad spend and claims of healthy competition by the regulator and industry participants.

A review of recently published (as available for publicly held entities) first half 2008 figures makes for interesting reading. XL have managed to push their EBITDA margin up by 10 percent to 45 percent while Telkomsel as industry leader have suffered a fall from 72 percent back to 69 percent in the past year; with Indosat slipping slightly back to 50 percent (see table).[more, thejakartapost]

Indonesia Telecommunications Report Q3 2008 - www.companiesandmarkets.com adds new report.

Competition among mobile operators is intensifying. A number of new entrants to the sector have been jostling for greater market share against the larger established mobile operators, through aggressive advertising campaigns detailing competitive advantages of lowest market prices, best call quality and cheapest deals. The number of mobile subscribers has certainly grown, reaching an estimated 97.4mn at the end of 2007 and above BMI’s original estimate. [more, PR-Inside]

Victory for Qtel on Indosat stake

QTEL will be able to keep its 40.8% controlling stake in Indonesia’s Indosat.
This follows the Indonesian Supreme Court ruling that the legal challenge before it in respect of Qtel’s ownership in Indosat has ended.

Qtel chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani welcomed the court decision.
“Our controlling stake in Indosat is a key part of our group expansion plans and we are pleased that the Supreme Court’s decision removes the District Court’s order, and allows us to keep the shares we had acquired in June,” he said. [more, gulf times]

Indonesian high court says Temasek appeal rejected

JAKARTA (AFP) — Indonesia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings over a ruling that it breached anti-monopoly laws, the court spokesman said Friday.

"Yes, it's true," Djoko Sarwoko, one of the judges who heard the case, told AFP, confirming the ruling. [more, AFP]

News focus: Temasek loses legal battle in RI`s supreme court

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - After a legal battle for about five months, Singapore`s state-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd has to accept an unfavorable decision by the Indonesian Supreme Court (MA).

The highest law enforcing body rejected Temasek`s legal review suit against a ruling by Indonesia`s Business Competition Commission (KPPU) that the Singapore company had violated the country`s monopoly and business competition law. [more, antaranews]

This Report Describes The Booming Indonesian Mobile Telephone Market

DUBLIN, Ireland, Sep 10, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Research and Markets ( http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9ae844/indonesia_mobile) has announced the addition of the "Indonesia - Mobile Communications - Market Overview" report to their offering.

Indonesia's mobile market has grown rapidly in recent years, 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. [more, marketwatch]

Muslim cellphone keeps the faith

Indonesian Muslims struggling to balance work with the holy fasting month of Ramadan are relying on special cellphones to help them keep the faith.

Islamic gadgets are especially popular in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, during Ramadan, when religious fervour is high and devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, profanities and sexual activities from dawn-to-dusk. [more, thewindsorstar]

CTM, Telkomsel sign joint-venture agreement

Local telecommunications company CTM and Indonesian telecommunications company Telkomsel yesterday signed a joint-venture agreement to mark the launch of a new prepaid calling card which will allow Indonesians in Macau to call family and loved ones for a fraction of the price.
In a ceremony presided over by secretary for transport and public works, Lau Si Io, both sides said that the agreement would bring benefits to the local Indonesian community. [more, macaudailytimes]

Over 500 Million New Mobile Subscribers From Asia Forecast

Over 500 million new mobile subscribers are expected from Asia’s emerging economies by 2012, according to a report.

Asia's emerging markets, comprising eight nations, are expected to see mobile subscriber net gains of 573 million by end-2012, breaching the one billion mark to close the year at an estimated 1.06 billion subscribers, according to a forecast by market research company Frost & Sullivan.. [more, IQonline]

Asia-Pacific Leads in Broadband

While the Asia Pacific region is making accelerated progress in the telephony sector, the area in which the region really stands out is the uptake of advanced Internet technologies, especially broadband Internet access.

This is according to a report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU launched its key Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Report for the Asia-Pacific region, at the ITU Telecom Asia 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 1. [more, pcworld]

XL to launch secondary share offer by 2009

Indonesia’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers Excelcomindo (XL) says it plans to launch a secondary share offering by 2009, placing between 10% and 15% of its share capital with the public through the process. Reuters quotes company president Hasnul Suhaimi as saying that part of Malaysian mobile phone firm TM International's equity holding will be sold in the secondary offering. [more, telegeograhy]

Indosat, RIM introduce BlackBerry Bold in Indonesia

Indosat and Research In Motion (RIM) has introduced the new BlackBerry Bold smartphone in Indonesia.

The BlackBerry Bold supports HSDPA networks and features a 624 MHz processor, integrated GPS and Wi-fi, a newly designed QWERTY keyboard, improved display and multimedia capabilities. [more, DMasia]

Asia's 8 emerging markets to have 1b mobile users by 2012

ASIA'S emerging mobile markets, excluding China, are expected to see subscriber net gains of 573 million by end-2012, breaching the one billion mark to close the year at an estimated 1.06 billion subscribers.

The finding comes from a report by Frost & Sullivan covering eight nations: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, all of which have mobile penetration rates of under 50 per cent. [more, asiaone]

Report: Asia-Pacific Holds Great Potential for WiMax

Research and Markets, a research firm that conducts studies and analysis focused primarily upon the telecommunication and technology industries, reportedly has announced it is putting out a new research report, “The Asian Pacific WiMax Market 2008.” [more, Wimaxtoday]

Indonesian shares end morning higher; coal miners lead gains on oil price rise

... Indonesian CDMA-based cellular operator PT Mobile-8 Telecom rose on market speculation that the company has been a target of acquisition by a number of telecom companies, including PT Bakrie Telecom. {more, forbes]

Indonesia Excelcom plans secondary share offering by 2009

JAKARTA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Indonesia's third largest mobile phone operator, PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk EXCL.JK, said on Wednesday it will offer 10-15 percent of its share capital to the public through a secondary offering by 2009. [more, reuters]