The newly-promoted CEO of Telkom Indonesia has said the incumbent telco is considering issuing bonds this year to finance its capital expenditure plans.
Alex Sinaga, who took over from Arief Yahya in December after the latter was appointed as the…
The newly-promoted CEO of Telkom Indonesia has said the incumbent telco is considering issuing bonds this year to finance its capital expenditure plans.
Alex Sinaga, who took over from Arief Yahya in December after the latter was appointed as the country’s tourism minister, told the Jakarta Post that the notes would be offered this year but did not comment on the size or timing of the financing.
He also pointed out that Telkom does not expect to face difficulties in raising external funding as its debt-to-equity ratio stands at 35%, compared with an average of 60% for the rest of the Indonesian telecoms industry.
The operator plans to use a mix of loans and bonds to finance half of its Rp23trn (US$1.8bn) capex in 2015. Of the Rp23trn, about Rp10trn will be used to build 12,000 towers for subsidiary Telkomsel, which Sinaga headed before becoming CEO.
He also told the local newspaper that his company would boost its local digital network, by developing transmission cables, fibre-optic networks and satellites, and would expand its international presence.
Telkom ordered its latest satellite, Telkom-3S from Thales Alenia Space, in July 2014. It is a replacement for Telkom-3, which was destroyed after its rocket failed during a Russian federal mission in August 2012. The new satellite will be located at the same orbital slot of 118E.
The spacecraft is based on Thales’ new generation Spacebus 4000B2 platform and will be equipped with 10 Ku-band transponders to specifically target Indonesia with HDTV and remote GSM/internet services, 24 C-band transponders to cover Indonesia and Southeast Asia, as well as eight extended C-band transponders for Indonesia and part of Malaysia.
Arianespace has been contracted to launch the bird at the end of 2016.
