T

elecommunication tower operator PT Sarana Menara Nusantara (TOWR) aims to make revenues surpass Rp 3 trillion (US$303 million) this year, owing to strong consumption of telecommunication services and gadgetry.

TOWR president director Adam Gifari said the company, which booked Rp 2.2 trillion revenues last year, would have to grow by 25-35 percent year-on-year, in line with the expansion of mobile operators'€™ networks, to attain this year'€™s revenue target.

'€œWe also aim to increase our earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization [EBITDA] by the same range in order to collect Rp 2.5 trillion at the year'€™s end,'€ he said on Friday, referring the term to revenues minus cost of revenues.

As of the first quarter, the company already booked Rp 720.2 billion in revenues.

The company, Adam added, would attain these targets through an addition of 800-1,000 towers.

'€œWe had close to 9,000 towers as of the first quarter of 2013, a 32.9 percent [year-on-year] increase,'€ he said.

As many as 184 of the 532 towers gained in the first quarter of 2013 resulted from acquisitions. He did not specify, however, if the company would conduct more acquisitions in the remaining months of the year.

'€œWe consider ourselves to be financially healthy so we are ready to weigh market opportunities,'€ Adam said.

TOWR, via subsidiary PT Profesional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo), has previously amended their tower transfer agreement (TTA) with mobile phone operator PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications (HCPT), which has changed its name to PT Hutchison 3 Indonesia following a change in ownership.

Under the amendment, Hutchison has increased the number of towers it could sell off to Protelindo to 1,500 locations, from previously 1,000. Both companies have also concurred to extend the agreement due date to June 30 from Aug. 28 last year.

Adam added that Hutchison was one of the key clients of the company, in addition to PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) and PT XL Axiata.

'€œThe number of our tenants rose by 40.7 percent year-on-year to 16,195 as of the first quarter of the year,'€ he said, adding the increase in the number of tenants was prompted by the mobile operator business that had picked up amid strong consumption for telecommunication products and services, with consumers'€™ monthly telecommunication expenditure increasing by 10 to 30 percent.

The mobile operator industry itself is expected to grow by up to 10 percent this year, with major mobile phone operators having allocated between Rp 8 and 10 trillion in capital expenses to capture growth.

Adam added that mobile operators would continue spending on fortifying their Internet broadband networks to capitalize on the adoption of smartphones.

In the next three to five years non-short text message revenues of mobile operators is estimated to touch Rp 28 '€“ Rp 55 trillion, 25-40 percent of which would be driven by wireless telecommunication.

TOWR is affiliated to the business conglomerate Djarum Group, which is fully owned by the Hartono family, who occupies the top position in the Forbes rich list in Indonesia.

TOWR shares were traded at Rp 24,950 on Friday, unchanged from the previous day.