Indonesia's Excelcom borrows $214 mln to expand network

Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:20am EST  

JAKARTA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Indonesia's third-largest mobile phone operator, PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (EXCL.JK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said on Friday it has borrowed $214 million from Dutch bank ABN AMRO and Standard Chartered (STAN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(2888.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for capital expenditure.

 The firm, majority owned by Telecom Malaysia (TLMM.KL: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said the $214 million facility would be used to buy goods from Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). 

Excelcom has already revised up its capital expenditure for 2008 to $1.25 billion from an earlier figure of $1 billion. The money is earmarked for network upgrades as the number of subscribers increases. 

Analysts have predicted that the number of mobile phone subscribers in Indonesia would soar to 120 million by the end of 2008, from some 90 million last year. 

However, Hasnul Suhaimi, Excelcom's president director, warned last month that the firm may miss its subscriber target this year because of the economic slowdown. 

Telecom Malaysia controls 83.79 percent of Excelcom while Emirates Telecommunications Corp ETEL.AD holds a 15.97 percent stake in the Indonesian company. 

(Reporting by Andreas Ismar; Editing by Sara Webb)