T

he country's third largest telecommunications tower operator, Solusi Tunas Pratama, will increase its loan facility to BIT Teknologi Nusantara to help the latter further boost its fiber-optic business.

Solusi Tunas announced through the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Friday that it would increase its loan facility to its subsidiary to Rp 1.5 trillion (US$124 million), from its initial plan of Rp 500 billion.

Both firms signed in January an agreement under which Solusi Tunas will give a Rp 500 billion loan to support funding BIT's fiber-optic business. The loan facility has been said to have no maturity date and an unfixed-interest rate. The agreement was amended to allow an increase of the loan facility to Rp 1.5 trillion.

'The amendment of the amount of the loan is aimed at further strengthening BIT's business, in line with the development, growth and opportunities in the business,' Solusi Tunas said in a statement.

Solusi Tunas president director Nobel Tanihaha said previously that demand for fiber-optic networks in the country's big cities would likely surge in three to five years, driven by growing use of long-term evolution (LTE) technology, better known as 4G, for Internet data use.

Fiber optic is considered to be the best medium for 4G as it has greater bandwidth, which can handle skyrocketing data traffic.

Indonesia's digital universe (the amount of data traffic) is forecast to grow by more than 6 times, from 84 exabytes this year to 656 exabytes by 2020, according to a study conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and IT firm EMC.

Solusi Tunas stated that through the increased loan facility to BIT, it would be able to optimally utilize all assets and resources already owned by BIT, in order to increase profits.

Nobel said previously that Solusi Tunas expected to see a surge in the contribution of its non-tower business, including fiber optics and micro cell.

The non-tower business currently contributes only 9 percent to the firm's total revenue, while the remaining 91 percent comes from its tower business, he said.

Solusi Tunas finance director Juliawati Gunawan said that in this year alone, his firm aimed to increase its revenue and net profits by up to 30 percent, from Rp 840.1 billion and Rp 197.6 billion, respectively.

This year alone, the firm has a capital expenditure budget of around Rp 1.7 trillion, 70 percent of which will be used for organic growth such as adding towers and expanding fiber-optic business, while the remaining 30 percent will be for supporting its acquisition plans.

Solusi Tunas's shares, which are traded on the IDX under the code SUPR, closed unchanged at Rp 8,250 apiece on Friday.