T

elecommunication tower providers are speeding up their business expansion to meet a growing demand for high-speed connection as the data consumption of mobile phone users soars, executives
have said.

Publicly listed PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure said that it had built 560 towers in the first half of the year and would like to build a similar amount in the second half.

“Investment per tower is about Rp 1 billion [US$106,000],” Tower Bersama finance director Helmi Yusman Santoso said.

At the end of June, Tower Bersama had 5,416 telecommunication sites, comprising 3,959 telecommunication towers, 1,040 shelter-only sites (shelters constructed and owned by the company to enable installation of base transceiver stations on the towers of telecommunication operators), and 417 distributed antenna system (DAS) networks. The company had 8,584 tenants at the end of June.

“We will have at least 12,000 tenants by the year end,” Helmi said.

Tower Bersama is expecting to acquire 2,500 new towers this month, once it closes an acquisition deal with telecommunication operator PT Indosat.

“We will close the deal in early August. Revenue from the tower will also be booked starting from this month and will rise,” Helmi said, adding that Tower Bersama would submit bids if Indosat sold further towers.

Meanwhile, another tower provider PT Sarana Menara Nusantara has said that its 99.99 percent owned by subsidiary PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) recently signed an asset-purchase agreement with PT Central Investindo and PT Mitra Karya Propertindo about the purchase of 200 tower sites.

According to a file submitted to the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Protelindo will pay Rp 376 billion to Central and Mitra for the acquisitions. Protelindo is expecting that the acquisitions will be completed by Oct. 31. Sarana had 6,363 towers by the end of 2011.

Tower company PT Solusi Tunas Menara has said that it also aims to increase the number of its base transceiver station (BTS) towers to 2,000 from the current almost 1,600 units.

Meanwhile, a company planning to float its shares on the bourse, PT Inti Bangun Sejahtera, said recently that it was working on the construction of 90 towers and expected 50 of them would be completed by the year’s end. The company now has 1,987 towers serving 2,700 tenants.

Inti is aiming to book Rp 400 billion in revenue by the end of the year, a massive fourfold-jump from around Rp 100 billion last year, according to finance director Stefanus Sudyatmiko.

“We’re also expecting a similar jump in net profits by the end of the year, from last year’s Rp 82 billion,” Stefanus said.

Tower Bersama reaped Rp 647.22 billion in the first half of the year, increasing by 47 percent compared to Rp 440.49 billion in the same period last year. The company’s net profit stood at Rp 282.91 billion in the first half, up 31 percent from Rp 215.86 billion in the same period last year.

Sarana Menara earned Rp 1.02 trillion in revenue during the January to June period of the year, increasing by 30 percent compared to Rp 772.27 billion in the same period last year.

Despite the increase in revenue, Sarana Menara reported lower net profits as it suffered from losses on foreign exchange. The company’s net profits reached Rp 128.85 billion in the first six months of the year, falling around 50 percent compared to Rp 257.09 billion in the same period last year.

Solusi Tunas has yet to announce its performance in the first half.