Indosat Says Q1 New Mobile Users May Fall 8-12 Pct

The number of new mobile phone subscribers of Indonesia’s second largest telecoms firm, PT Indosat Tbk, may fall by 8-12 percent in the first quarter of this year from the same period in 2005, its chief said on Monday.

However, Hasnul Suhaimi, Indosat’s president director, told reporters the company still retained its target of between 3-4 million new users this year.

“Subscribers in Q1 2006 were down by 8-12 percent compared with the previous year period,” Suhaimi said, refering to the company’s new mobile phone users. He did not elaborate further.

By the end of 2005, Indosat , 42 percent owned by Singapore’s ST Telemedia, had 14.4 million mobile phone customers out of a total of 45 million mobile phone users in the fourth most populous nation.

The number of mobile phone users are expected to log strong growth in the years to come after expanding by 50 percent last year.

Indosat is one of upcoming 3G operators in Indonesia. The government recently awarded three companies the right to operate high-speed 3G mobile telecommunications services (W-CDMA): PT Telkomsel, PT Excelcomindo Pratama and PT Indosat. While PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler and PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications obtained their licenses in 2004

Indonesia’s largest telecommunications company, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk’s Telkomsel, has predicted the total number of mobile phone users in the country will reach 100 million by 2010. [3G!]

Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News