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tate-owned telecommunication company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) says that it has booked Rp 56.8 trillion (US$5.9 billion) in revenue for the first nine months of the year.

The figure was 7.6 percent higher than the revenue the firm recorded in the same period last year. About 70 percent of the total was contributed by its mobile phone operator subsidiary, PT Telkomsel.

The rise in revenue pushed Telkom’s profits, whereby after tax profits rose to Rp 14.1 trillion in September this year, or 20.7 percent higher than the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Telkom’s expenses was Rp 38.1 trillion in the first nine months of 2012, up 3.9 percent from the amount booked in the same period last year.

Telkomsel also released its third quarter earnings report on Tuesday, with company president director Alex Sinaga saying that the subsidiary contributed more than 70 percent of the revenue booked by its parent company in the reporting period.

“As of September, the end of third quarter of 2012, our revenues grew to Rp 39.8 trillion, and thus,
we recorded double-digit growth of 11 percent when compared year on year, and 10 percent quarter on quarter,” he said during a conference call.

Sinaga said that the revenue growth rate booked in September was the highest in the past 14 quarters.

Telkomsel’s EBITDA was Rp 22.7 trillion by the end of the third quarter, leading the firm to book 10 percent growth year on year and 13 percent growth quarter to quarter, Sinaga said.

He noted that the firm’s EBITDA margin was 57 percent.

“Profits as of the nine months of 2012 reached Rp 11.7 trillion, attaining year-on-year growth of 23 percent and quarter-to-quarter growth of 17 percent,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sinaga said that the firm’s expenses grew only by 7 percent quarter to quarter to Rp 24.2 trillion.

He attributed the low expense growth to the use of technology that enabled energy efficiency and not to cost cutting measure.

Subscriber growth, on the other hand, brought increased revenues, with Telkomsel recording 121 million subscribers as of the third quarter of this year and its data subscribers expanding by 47 percent year on year to 51 million.

“We aim to acquire 126 million subscribers by the end of 2012, or around 5 million more than what we have now,” he said.

He added that as of September, Telkomsel owned 51,005 base transmission stations (BTS), or 24 percent more than recorded in the same period last year.

The company also possessed 13,415 3G-capable BTS as of September, or 49 percent more than the same period in 2011.

“We increased the number of our BTS by 3,752 units in the third quarter, hence recording a 53 percent growth compared the previous quarter. He further added that Telkomsel would increasingly focus on data-related business activities under its revised business plan.

“Telkomsel will continuously upgrade our broadband based data services and VAS [value-added services] amid the increasingly competitive telecommunication industry,” he said. However, the mobile operator, which has over a 50 percent market share is also facing legal challenges in this year.

The Jakarta Commercial Court issued a controversial verdict declaring the firm insolvent for non-payment of relatively minor debts, and ordered liquidators to supervise the sale of the firm’s assets.