TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Telkom aims for half of TBIG's stake
State-owned telecommunications giant PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) aims to have an up to 50 percent stake in publicly listed PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure Group, with obtaining approval from its commissioners a prerequisite
Change Size
S
tate-owned telecommunications giant PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) aims to have an up to 50 percent stake in publicly listed PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure Group, with obtaining approval from its commissioners a prerequisite.
Telkom president director Alex Sinaga said after a hearing with the House of Representatives on Thursday that his firm planned to become the simple majority owner of Tower Bersama, once the firm's commissioners agreed its conditional swap agreement with the independent tower company.
'What we mean by simple majority is [having] between 30 and 50 percent of the stake [in Tower Bersama],' he said.
Telkom and Tower Bersama signed a conditional swap agreement in October last year, under which Telkom will gradually swap its shares in its tower business arm PT Dayamitra Telekomunikasi (Mitratel) for 13.7 percent in Tower Bersama's enlarged share capital.
Telkom will also receive cash of up to Rp 1.73 trillion (US$ 130 million) from Tower Bersama in the event that Mitratel reaches certain milestones. The additional cash will also enable Telkom to increase its stake in Tower Bersama to about 15 percent.
Alex said that once the share swap was finalized, Telkom would move to the next level to increase its ownership in Tower Bersama by doing something similar with its Telkomsel towers.
To date, however, Telkom has not obtained approval from its commissioners for the conditional swap agreement between Mitratel and Tower Bersama, with House Commission VI on state-owned enterprises questioning the urgency of the share swap.
The commission's deputy chairman, Azzam Azman Natawidjaja, said the House required a more detailed explanation from Telkom amid the House's previous suggestion to cancel the share swap.
'We are questioning why Telkom doesn't expand its own tower business but plans to swap Mitratel's stake with that of Tower Bersama,' he said.
Telkom currently has about 23,000 towers, with 18,000 towers operated by its cellular arm Telkomsel and 5,000 towers by Mitratel.
Telkom has reiterated that the share-swap deal was aimed at maintaining the value of its towers amid hyper-competition in the tower industry, in addition to focusing more on its core information, technology and communications business. (koi) (++++)
