Telkom Indonesia, the country’s incumbent, will not see a change in its acquisition strategy following the appointment of a new head. Arif Yahya, who recently succeeded Rhinaldi Firmansjah, said that Telkom is still looking for telecom acquisitions in…
Telkom Indonesia, the country’s incumbent, will not see a change in its acquisition strategy following the appointment of a new head. Arif Yahya, who recently succeeded Rhinaldi Firmansjah, said that Telkom is still looking for telecom acquisitions in Myanmar or Vietnam.
Deals would be financed with cash-on-hand and bank loans, and the company might consider setting up a consortium to buy stakes in a mobile operator and an IT firm, Yahya told Dow Jones. The main objective is to boost Telkom’s revenues.
The news comes just weeks after Telkom decided to drop its acquisition plan for Asian undersea cableco Pacnet. Yahya reportedly argued that the company would not add any value to Telkom. The Indonesian company was said to have previously offered US$1bn for Pacnet, including debt.
A few months ago Yahya’s predecessor, Rhinaldi Firmansjah, had already been quoted saying that Telkom was looking to enter new markets in Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar.
At the time, Firmansjah had said that Myanmar is particularly interesting to Telkom given the size of the country. Myanmar currently has only one mobile operator serving a population of 55 million.
Meanwhile, Telkom is expected to start rolling out mobile services in Timor Leste in 2013, after being awarded an operating licence, Yahya said.
