Publicly-listed PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (Telkom) says that its subsidiaries operating in information, media and edutainment (IME) will contribute more to the company’s total earnings as the nation’s mobile phones business has reached a saturation point.

“We expect that the subsidiaries, excluding Telkomsel, will grow at least 30 percent,” Telkom president director Rinaldi Firmansyah said on Tuesday.

Telkom’s subsidiaries operating in IME businesses comprise PT Telkomvision, PT Admedika, PT Finnet Indonesia, PT Metranet, PT Sigma Cipta Caraka, PT Infomedia Nusantara and PT Melon Indonesia.

According to Rinaldi, the firm’s IME subsidiaries booked about Rp 5.5 trillion (US$599.5 million) in revenue last year, about 7.5 percent of the company’s total consolidated revenue of Rp 71.92 trillion.

Telkom collected Rp 17.8 trillion in revenue in the first quarter of the year, while its 65 percent-owned subsidiary PT Telekomunikasi Seluler (Telkomsel) reported Rp 12.3 trillion.

Meanwhile, the IME subsidiaries reported a combined Rp 1.7 trillion in the first three months of the year, increasing by 54 percent from Rp 1.1 trillion in the same period last year.

Although their contribution remained small, the IME subsidiaries experienced significant growth last year.

Health service provider Admedika booked 25 percent growth, with revenue touching Rp 170 billion, according to Indra Utoyo, Telkom’s information technology, solutions and strategy portfolio director.

According to Indra, Sigma booked about Rp 700 billion last year, a 30 percent increase compared to 2010.

Meanwhile, advertising and digital rich media content company Infomedia reaped Rp 1 trillion, which was up 23 percent compared to a year earlier.

Telkom also saw 78 percent growth in Telkomvision, which runs its pay-TV business, 22 percent growth in its Finnet e-payment service, 112 percent growth in portal and commerce subsidiary Metranet and 30 percent growth in data center and information technology subsidiary Sigma.

“For the IME business, and specifically for content and application development, we have allocated Rp 285 billion in expenditures for this year,” Indra said.

Telkom has set aside about Rp 16 trillion for capital expenditures this year, most of which has been allocated to Telkomsel, with Rp 3 trillion to Rp 4 trillion earmarked for cable infrastructure development.

This year, Telkom is starting to replace its copper cable with fiber optic to provide 20 Mbps-to-100-Mbps household broadband service in 497 cities nationwide.

—JP/ Raras Cahyafitri

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