Antimonopoly body rules against Temasek

JAKARTA (Jakarta Post): Temasek Holdings was found guilty by the KPPU on Monday of cross- ownership in the domestic mobile telecommunications industry, a move that led to an abuse of dominant powers in the marketplace and a monopoly.

The Singapore-owned company would now be forced to either let go of all indirect shares in PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), or in PT Indosat, and to pay a fine of Rp 25 billion for breaching the anti-monopoly law, the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) said.

"We hereby order Temasek and its business group to let go of all shares in either Telkomsel or Indosat, no more than two years (after) this decision takes effect," head of the KPPU's panel of judges Syamsul Maarif said.

The divested shares, Syamsul said, must not exceed five percent for each buyer. (Andi Haswidi)