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Telkom pockets $1.1b profit in Q3 as data business soars
Indonesia's largest telecommunications operator PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) has benefitted from it growing digital business, with the company booking a 15.6 percent year-on-year (yoy) increase in profit in the January-September period of this year.
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State-owned telecommunication company Telekomunikasi Indonesia's (Telkom) logo. (Kontan/-)
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ndonesia's largest telecommunications company, state-owned PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), saw net profit growth of 15.6 percent in the January-September period this year compared to same period in 2018, totaling Rp 16.5 trillion (US$1.18 billion) thanks to the improved performance of its data business.
In the nine-month period, Telkom recorded a 3.5 percent year-on-year (yoy) increase in revenue to Rp 102.6 trillion supported by the company's digital business revenue, which soared 17.8 percent to Rp 60.6 trillion, the company’s earnings announcement on Thursday showed. The company’s digital business, which comprises data, internet and IT services, accounted for 59 percent of Telkom's overall revenue.
Finance director Harry M Zen said on Wednesday that the state-owned company’s improved financial performance was largely owed to its growing digital business. “The positive digital business performance is in line with our main focus of developing our digital services going forward,” he said in the statement.
Telkom's mobile service subsidiary, Telkomsel, recorded a 1.8 percent increase in its number of customers to 170.9 million as of September of this year, which boosted the firm’s data traffic, with 65 percent subscribing to data services. As such, Telkomsel's data traffic increased 55 percent to 4,673 petabytes.
Meanwhile, its home broadband business, IndiHome, showed a drastic 52 percent increase in revenue to Rp 13.7 trillion thanks to a 38 percent increase in customers to 6.5 million by the end of September from the same time last year.
“As our performance has continued to improve as of the third quarter of this year, we’re upbeat that we can close 2019 with better performance by focusing on stable and profitable business lines,” Harry said.
Telkom's capital expenditure totaled Rp 22.2 trillion as of September this year to support its business growth, with spending primarily focused on network and infrastructure development for both mobile and fixed broadband.
Telkom, through its subsidiary Mitratel, also signed an agreement to acquire 2,100 telecommunication towers owned by its competitor Indosat Ooredoo to boost the company's infrastructure to support the growing demand for data and telecommunications services. As of September, Telkomsel owned 209,910 base transceiver stations (BTS), a 14.5 percent increase yoy, of which 76 percent are 3G/4G.
