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rick Thohir, vice president commissioner of PT Mahaka Media (ABBA), said that a '€œsynergy'€ between his media company and mobile phone operator PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia was a viable possibility in today'€™s increasingly digitized and data-driven world of telecommunications.

Entrepreneur Erick is part of the Thohir business clan. The Trinugraha Group, an investment group run by Erick'€™s brother, Garibaldi '€œBoy'€ Thohir, earlier joined with investment firm Northstar Pacific to acquire a 35 percent stake in mobile phone operator PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications (Tri), now called PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia.

Besides telecommunications, the family, via Erick, has long-standing interests in the media industry. Erick acts as vice president commissioner of PT Mahaka Media, the listed holding company of various print, broadcast and digital media sources, including Republika daily and Prambors radio.

According to Erick, Tri was looking to maintain its 30 percent market share in the mobile operator data business, the second-largest market share after PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), although when combined with voice and text, Tri was the fourth-largest.

'€œWe have made sizable investments [in data] and because of this, we now own 30 percent of the pie, which is shared among our competitors,'€ he said, adding that the operator would be seeking to establish 11,000 base transceiver stations (BTS) in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Telkomsel had more than 15,000 3G BTS by the end of last year.

'€œWe will continue focusing on data and, hence, on maintaining our number-two spot,'€ Erick said.

Tri previously stated that it aimed to expand its business by 13 percent this year.

Erick added that, following the acquisition, the group would '€œsupport'€ Tri by dealing with regulatory requirements and '€œlinking it [Tri] to those that offer added value, either through content or technology'€.

He said the first regulatory issue the group would tackle concerned the auctioning of telecommunication network channels by the government. '€œWe decided not to participate in the auction because it was not feasible for us to acquire those new channels,'€ he said.

Mobile phone operators Telkomsel and PT XL Axiata (EXCL) emerged the winners in the auction.

He said the media business would eventually cross over to the digital landscape. However, the timing of that would depend on financial benefits. '€œI agree that the future is headed that way, but the biggest cut of the cake is not in digital,'€ he said.

Erick is also president director of PT Visi Media Asia, a media holding that runs the tvOne television station and viva.co.id online news website.