HK allocates US$50 billion for investment in RI

Antara News, Friday, December 31, 2010

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Hong Kong government has allocated US$50 billion for its investment in Indonesia until next year, an Indonesian diplomat said here.

"Indonesia must be able to provide various facilities so that the investment funds will not go to other countries instead," Teguh Wardoyo, Indonesian consul general in Hong Kong said on Thursday.

He said that up to now about 34 billion dollars had been absorbed while the remaining 16 billion dollars had not yet been absorbed.

Indonesia, he said, is still an important part of the government and businesspeople in Hong Kong. After all, Indonesia`s market potentials are big in line with the progress of the infrastructure in Indonesia.

"This matter was acknowledged by a number of quarters in the business sector in Hong Kong," he said.

Main Indonesian Port Tanjung Priok to Get Rp2.7t Revamp

Jakarta Globe, Yessar Rosendar, February 05, 2010

State-owned port operator PT Pelindo II plans to invest Rp 2.7 trillion ($286.2 million) to improve infrastructure at Tanjung Priok port.

The investment is part of a five-year plan to modernize Tanjung Priok, the country’s main port, and cut costs in half.

Pelindo II president director Richard J Lino told the Jakarta Globe late on Thursday that the company would spend Rp 1.5 trillion on new equipment, with the rest going toward redesigning the docks and purchasing stronger cranes. Richard said the goal was to reduce the time ships were required to remain docked from three to four days currently to two days.

Richard said PT Jakarta International Container Terminal would spend Rp 1.6 trillion to improve infrastructure facilities at its adjacent terminal this year.

JICT announced in December that it had secured a $70 million syndicated loan from the International Finance Corporation, the lending arm of the World Bank, and HSBC to help boost capacity at its Tanjung Priok terminal. JICT is jointly owned by Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings and state-owned port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II. Its Tanjung Priok terminal handles an estimated 30 percent of the country’s container volume.

The government has set a goal of developing an international-standard regional port. Richard is pushing for Tanjung Priok to be that port, despite its limitations. It has been hampered by limited capacity and inefficient operations, including poor road access.

Its current capacity is only 600 containers per hour, about two-thirds of the volume projected for next year.

HK's Prosperity to invest $1b in Indonesia

Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/03/2010 6:38 PM

Prosperity International Holdings of Hong Kong plans to invest up to US$1 billion in Indonesia's coal, steel and cement industries.

Prosperity chairman David BK Wong said here on Wednesday that his group was interested in the country's rich natural resources and big market.

"We are committed to investing between $500 million and $1 billion depending on what kind of opportunities and incentives available," he told The Jakarta Post and Kompas at the office of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Wong and Prosperity CEO Mao Shuzhong met with BKPM deputy chairman Yus'an on Wednesday.

Wong added that with investment target of up to $1 billion, he aimed to create up to 5,000 jobs in the country.

Mao noted that the Prosperity Group had already invested $20 million to mine coal in Central Kalimantan.

The coal mining plant is expected to have trial shipping and exports in June this year, with initial production of 3 million tons of high-grade coal per annum.

The company plans to boost production to 10 million tons per annum in three to five years.

"We are also looking for possibility to invest in steel mill and cement plant in Indonesia," he said.

The Prosperity Group has a large cement operaton in mainland China, producing 21 million tons per annum.

The company is also supplying iron ore for China.

NEC to Build Submarine Cable Linking Indonesia and Hong Kong

PCWorld

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service, Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:50 AM PDT

NEC has won a contract to build a new submarine fiber-optic cable linking Indonesia to Hong Kong.

The Submarine Cable Asia Network (SCAN) will connect the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and the second-largest city of Surabaya to Hong Kong and from there on to other cable networks.

The 4,300-kilometer cable system will have an initial transmission capacity of 40 Gbps with upgrades possible to 1.92 Tbps, NEC said. It will also be built with three branching units along its length to facilitate possible future expansion to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries.

The cable is being constructed by Fangbian Iskan Corporindo and Telemedia Pacific. NEC's work is expected to begin during the first half of this year and be completed by 2011.

Indonesian Health Workers Unable to Fill Overseas Quotas Due to Poor English Skills

The Jakarta Globe, Dessy Sagita, January 23, 2009 

Despite a strong demand overseas for migrant health workers, Indonesian nurses and caregivers are unable to take advantage of the highly-paid jobs because they lack English skills, an official said on Friday. 

Mohammad Jumhur Hidayat, head of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Overseas Labor, or BNP2TKI, said after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the agency and three health academies in Jakarta, that demand from the Asia Pacific, Middle East and United States for Indonesian health workers would continue to rise. 

“The demand for Indonesian nurses and other health care workers is skyrocketing but we cannot adequately respond to it because of a human resource shortage and language problems,” Jumhur said. 

In 2008, Japan offered a 1,000-person quota for Indonesian health workers but Jumhur said that the agency had only been able to send 208 workers. He also said that this year, there were requests from Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, United Sates, Canada, Kuwait and Jordan for Indonesian health workers. 

Jumhur said that from now until 2015, Japan would need 600,000 migrant health workers while Saudi Arabia required 30,000 health workers this year. 

“It’s such a great opportunity for us, but we’ve been hampered by the fact that many of our nurses and caregivers do not speak English or other languages,” he said. 

Jumhur referred to a nursing school in Cirebon, West Java Province, which required its students to learn Japanese. Of the 208 health workers sent to Japan in 2008, 44 of them came from the school. 

“If health academies and foundations provided English lessons, I guarantee that all our nurses and caregivers would be employed,” he said. 

Imam Dahlan, the Ministry of Health’s head of the empowerment center for overseas health workers, said that most Indonesian nurses were highly qualified medically. 

“We don’t really have a problem when it comes to medical skills; the only problem is a lack of language skills,” Imam said. 

In order to capitalize on the demand, this year the BNP2TKI expects to send abroad more skilled labor workers than in 2008, when only 36 percent of the 740,000 migrant workers were skilled. This year Jumhur said the agency expected to increase that figure to 40 percent. 

The BNP2TKI reported that through to 2015, there would be more than 2.85 million job opportunities for nurses in the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

Investors May Acquire Sarijaya Assets for Rp 400bn

Yohanes Obor, The Jakarta Globe, January 8, 2009 

A consortium of four investors says it is interested in taking over troubled brokerage PT Sarijaya Permana Sekuritas, which has been in limbo since its owner was arrested for allegedly embezzling Rp 245 billion ($22.5 million) of his clients’ money. 

Sarijaya owner Herman Ramli has been in police custody since Dec. 24 on charges that he misused clients’ funds. The money was spread across 8,000 accounts, 6,000 of which were held by retail investors. 

The Indonesian Stock Exchange suspended Sarijaya’s brokerage business on Tuesday, following orders from the Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency, or Bapepam-LK. The agency is also investigating why Sarijaya’s net-adjusted capital, a minimum requirement for stock trading, had gone into the negatives. 

The Indonesian Central Securities Depository also froze all accounts under Sarijaya on Tuesday, while the Indonesian Stock Market Clearing House froze all Sarijaya assets, other than transactions that have already been completed. 

Vier Abdul Jamal, a spokesperson for the consortium, said the investors have prepared Rp 400 billion to acquire Sarijaya. The investors expect to reach a deal this week. 

“Rp 250 billion will be used to pay for the recovery [of client’s funds], while Rp 150 billion is to be used for the firm’s expansion,” Vier said. 

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Bapepam-LK said it was planning to unfreeze the company’s assets soon so they could be sold. 

Sarijaya, one of Indonesia’s largest brokerages, has 48 branches. Vier said Sarijaya assets include a plastics factory, a multifinance firm and an insurance firm. These have been surrendered to Bapepam-LK and are worth an estimated Rp 245 billion, said IDX chief Erry Firmansyah. 

Two investors in the consortium are from Hong Kong, one is from Melbourne and the other is a local, Vier said. 

He also said the consortium had no affiliation with Sarijaya’s former owner and had no plans to sell the group back to him. 

Vier described the consortium as a hedge fund that had been formed to acquire Sarijaya. 

Currently, Sarijaya is 60 percent owned by PT Karya Asa Mandiri Pratama, while PT Puri Jaya Jagat Abadi owns the remaining 40 percent. 

Puri Jaya was once a subsidiary of the now-defunct PT Bank Bali, a company that was owned by the Ramli family. 

Herman’s older brother Rudy Ramli made headlines in 2000 after he was prosecuted for transferring $80 million from Bank Bali to a firm run by then Golkar Party Deputy Treasurer Setya Novanto. Some politicians claimed the money was being used as a bribe. The court later acquitted Rudy of all charges. 

Sarijaya is the latest in a string of brokerages under investigation. Bapepam-LK is currently investigating 49 other securities fraud cases.

MNK to build new plants worth $56m

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/23/2008 10:59 AM  

After being acquired by PT Ancora Indonesia Resources (AIR), PT Multi Nitrotama Kimia (MNK), an explosives raw material producer, is set to build a new plant to increase existing capacity with a total investment of US$56 million. 

MNK plans to start building the plant with a total capacity of 100,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate -- a material used for explosives -- in its industrial site in Cikampek, West Jawa. The plant is targeted for completion in 2009. 

AIR president director Usman H.Darus said on Monday the decision to build the plant was taken as the explosives business would be a good opportunity for the company, enabling it to take advantage of the robust growth in the mining sector. 

AIR has recently taken over 40 percent of MNK shares under its strategy to become a service provider for mining companies. 

Jakarta-based AIR is a subsidiary of Hongkong-based investment and buyout company Ancora Capital Management Limited which was founded by JPMorgan alumni Gita Wirjawan. 

MNK currently controls 70 percent of the country's market share for explosive materials. 

The expansion plan is expected to meet the rising demand for explosives, which has been steadily growing at an average of 7 percent annually. This year, demand is expected to reach 300,000 metric tons. 

MNK owns two plants producing nitric acid and ammonium nitrate with a capacity of 37,000 metric tons and 55,000 metric tons, respectively. 

Meanwhile, AIR is also planning to acquire mining sites in the hope of expanding its mining business. 

Usman said the company was currently in talks with a number of coal companies in Kalimantan to acquire five coal concession with a total reserve of 15 million tons.

A`lia ready to allow mangosteen imports from Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Australian government has stated its readiness to allow mangosteen from Indonesia to enter its market as proposed by Jakarta, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said. 

So far, Australia had been applying long procedures and strict requirements to fruit imports from Indonesia but now Canberra would soon respond to Indonesia's proposal which was forwarded last year, the minister said. 

Apriyantono said the expression of Australia's preparedness to receive mangosteen from Indonesia was one of the results of his meeting with Australian Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Tony Burke in Canberra recently. 

The minister was in Canberra last November 10-12 to attend an Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Forum meeting. 

According to the minister, Australia had so far been hesitant to let in mangosteen from Indonesia because of concern about the possibility of fruit flies being carried along by the fruit. 

He said in exchange for the entry of Indonesian mangosteen into the Australian market, Australia had asked Indonesia to lower import duties on horticultural products from Australia. 

In response to Australia's request, Indonesia would consider it and at the same time ask Australia to lift its non-tariff barrier for Indonesian mangosteen and snakefruit, Apriyantono said. 

At the meeting with Burke, Apriyantono had also reminded Australia of an agreement reached in Working Group on Agriculture, Food and Forestry Cooperation (WGAFFC) meetings in Brisbane last year and in Solo last August that it would help Indonesia develop water transportation technolgy with cooler systems for export of tropical fruit. 

The main destinations of Indonesian fruit exports at present were Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East. 

In 2007, Indonesia exported 9,093 tons of mangosteen worth US$4.95 million accounting for 15 percent of national production. 

"A regulation on quarantine procedures for the Indonesian fruit exports is being discussed by both countries' agriculture ministries," he said. 

Demand for mangosteen in Australia was currently being met with imports from Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines since domestic production only yielded 300 tons per year. 

The fruit in Australia was mostly consumed by ethnic Asians in Sydney and Melbourne where fresh mangosteens cost A$60-70 AUSD per tray or about 20-30 fruits.

Hong Kong companies considering relocation to Indonesia

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A number of Hong Kong companies are looking into the possibility of relocating their plants to Indonesia, an executive said. 

"Today we are going to visit Surabaya to look at possible locations for the plants," chairman of the Indonesia-China Business Council Alim Markus said after accompanying a number of Chinese businessmen at a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla here on Tuesday. 

The Hong Kong companies considered Indonesia a very potential market, he said. 

Chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce and Industry Wing Kee Chan said China`s declining competitive edge and newly-enacted labor regulation were among the reasons why the Hong Kong companies wished to relocate their plants to Indonesia. 

"Given the regulation, China`s labor wages become higher than Indonesia`s. The second is that China`s business area has moved to the mainland so transportation costs have jumped accordingly," Chan said. 

In addition, Indonesia, with a population of around 230 million, was a lucrative market, he said. 

The companies wishing to relocate their plants to Indonesia were among others engaged in the energy, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, he said. 

To date, China is the fifth biggest market for Indonesian exports and the third biggest supplier of goods to Indonesia. 

Both Indonesia and China have committed themselves to increasing their two-way trade to US$30 billion in 2010 from US$20 billion in 2008.

Mideast bizmen keen to invest in Indonesia, banker says

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Middle Eastern businessmen are keen to invest in Indonesia without any hidden agenda, the chairman of the Indonesian Syaria Bank Association (Asbisindo), M Riawan Amin, said here Thursday.

"With their huge funds, they will leave the US and the European Union, and are ready to enter Asia, including Indonesia, for business without any political agenda," Riawan told ANTARA.

As the world`s largest Muslim country with the same cultural background Indonesia should take the opportunity, he added.

Citing an example, he said the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) had provided US$10 billion in funds for poverty eradication through payment of tithes.

IDB is a stakeholder in Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI).

However, the Middle Eastern businessman`s plan to invest in Indonesia could not be realized soon due to the absence of a law on Sukuk (obligation in Islamic law), rampant corruption and double taxation risks.

"We will have to do many things to attract them. Moreover, syariah banking has yet to become a national agenda," Riawan said.

Some Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong had become main competitors to Indonesia in attracting investment from the Middle East, he noted.

Singapore and Hong Kong which had different cultural background with the Middle East, are planning to be centers for syariah banking.

Malaysia had offered facilities, including tax incentives, to lure Middle Eastern investors.

To date, Indonesian investment in the Middle East is made through third parties such as Singapore.

Riawan , who is also president director of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), said the bank`s presence was expected to lessen investors` doubts about Indonesia`s business potentials and prospects.

The bank`s customers had increased from 1.2 million in 2006 to 1.7 million in 2007.

Individuals` savings at the bank increased from Rp6.8 trillion to Rp8.2 trillion during the same period.

Indonesia, HK near deal on ill-gotten funds : report

Hong Kong (ANTARA News) - Hong Kong and Jakarta are close to signing an agreement that would allow Indonesia to pursue misappropriated money that was stashed in bank accounts in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.

The newspaper said Indonesia and Hong Kong will sign a mutual legal agreement (MLA) on criminal matters at a conference scheduled for November in Bali.

"There are many, many cases and we are waiting for the support of the MLA to pursue them," Yan Genmarengga of the Indonesian Attorney-General's Office, who is based in Hong Kong, was quoted in the newspaper as saying.

"We have some general cases involving hundreds of millions of (U.S.) dollars. The MLA will make it easier for Hong Kong and Indonesia to pursue the money," he was quoted as saying.

Yan could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice in Hong Kong told Reuters, "the agreement is still in process", but did not give a timetable.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to clamp down on graft in a country that is regularly rated one of the world's most corrupt, and has been pursuing the recovery of illegally obtained funds.

The newspaper said a likely target would be an estimated US$800 million in funds in Hong Kong that were held by Hendra Rahardja, the late chief of now-defunct Bank Harapan Sentosa, who was convicted in 2002 and sentenced to life in a graft scandal involving the disbursement of an emergency loan by Indonesia's central bank.

Last week, the United Nations and the World Bank launched an initiative to make it easier for governments in developing countries to recover stolen assets stashed in overseas by corrupt leaders.

The World Bank estimates that the cross-border flow of global proceeds from criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion is between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion.

Hong Kong owned Wismatama to build Star City in Jakarta

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - PT Wismatama Propertindo, a subsidiary of Hong Kong based property company Ie Siu Chung, will build a Star City, a complex expected to become a residential area for Jakarta's celebrities.

Star City will have two 24-floor apartment towers and a 21-floor hotel, 8-floor podium and a 16-floor shopping mall occupying a 1.4 hectare plot of land at Jalan Gajahmada in the city center in Jakarta.

The project, estimated to cost Rp600 billion (US$66.5 million), was formerly planned by PT Modernland Realty before it was acquired in May 2007 by Wismatama.

Wismatama President Wahyjono said work began in July this year and 20 per cent of 434 apartment units in the two towers have been sold.

Work on Southeast Asia-US cable link to start soon

The Jakarta Post

BUKIT MERTAJAM, Malaysia (The Star\ANN): Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is finalizing details on the alignment of the RM1.8 billion submarine fiber optic cable system linking Southeast Asia directly with the United States.

Its group chief executive officer Abdul Wahid Omar said construction work on the 20,000 kilometer cable system, known as the Asia-America Gateway (AAG), was expected to begin soon. "Following our recent contract agreement signing with Alcatel Submarine Network and NEC Corp the two contractors that will build the cable system we expect the project to proceedimmediately," he told reporters at TM's adoption of SK Bukit Indera Muda and SK Seri Penanti under the Finance Ministry's Pintar program here yesterday.

On Friday, Telekom Malaysia announced that it was leading a consortium of 17 international telcos to set up the cable system that would provide a capacity of up to 1.92 terabits per second of data bandwidth.

The cable system, which will be completed by December next year, will connect Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii with the US West Coast.

Abdul Wahid said this was the first time a Malaysian company was spearheading a massive submarine cable-laying project."Traditionally, the routes have gone to North Asia, through Taiwan or Japan," he added.

Abdul Wahid said the system provided an alternative route for Internet connection to the US.

Malaysia leads plan for ambitious undersea fiber optic cable directly linking U.S. and S.E. Asia

The Jakata Post

KUALA LUMPUR(AP): Seventeen major telecommunications companies signed a pact Friday to build a US$500 million undersea fiber optic cable between Southeast Asia and the United States they claim will be relatively safe from earthquakes and tsunamis.

The link will offer "a timely increase in both the capacity and diversity of Internet links between Asia and the U.S., bearing in mind the disruptions caused by the recent Taiwan earthquake," Abdul Wahid Omar, chief executive of Telekom Malaysia, said at the signing ceremony.

Internet users will get faster and more reliable service once the high-bandwidth cable starts operating in December 2008, he said.

Telekom Malaysia, which is leading the consortium of companies, said construction of the 20,000-kilometer link would begin immediately. It said it would be the first submarine cable system linking Southeast Asia directly to the United States.

The fiber optic cable, dubbed the Asia-America Gateway, will connect the U.S. West Coast with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii, as well as offer "seamless interconnection" for those locations with Europe, Africa and Australia, Telekom said in a statement.

It will "provide an alternative and a more secure link for traffic from the region to the U.S.A.," Telekom said. "This low-risk route was designed to avoid the volatile and hazardous Pacific Ring, thus mitigating the effects from natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis."

A magnitude 7.1 quake snapped undersea cables near Taiwan on Dec. 26, disrupting phone and Internet communications across Asia as companies scrambled to reroute traffic through satellites and undamaged cables. Services were gradually restored in the days after the quake.

Hutchison plans 1 billion USD investment in Indonesia

Xinhua / People Daily Online - 2007-04-24 09:46:54

Jakarta, April 23, 2007 (Xinhua) - Hong Kong-based telecommunication firm Hutchison plans a total investment of 1.1 billion U.S. dollars to expand cellular phone service network in Indonesia, where the company made debut on March 31, local press said Monday.

Hutchison Telecommunication International operates in Indonesia in a partnership with Thai cattle feed factory Charoen Pokphan and already invested 450 million dollars to run service in 60 towns on Java island and launch the "3" cellular service brand, reported leading economic daily Bisnis Indonesia.

The company will add a new investment of 650 million to build base transceiver stations and expand coverage area in the country's most crowded island.

Hutchison president Rajiv Sawhney, when visiting the Central Java capital of Semarang over the weekend, said the company also aimed at other major islands like Bali, Sumatra, Batam, Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

Telecoms war hots up as 'Hutch' joins the fray

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the services on offer mostly the same, the tight competition in Indonesia's crowded wireless telecoms market has led to a no-holds-barred price war and massive ad spending.

This month, the war is about to get even fiercer with the established operators set to react to the arrival of upstart Hutchison Charoen Pokphand Telecom (HCPT), dubbed "Hutch" in the business.

HCPT is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based global cellular giant Hutchison Telecommunications International (HTIL) and Thai agroindustry group Charoen Pokphand.

Through its GSM-based "3" brand, HCPT offers wireless access throughout Java, to be followed soon by other areas, with promo tariffs so cheap that they make a mockery of the generally accepted price distinction between GSM and fixed wireless CDMA -- CDMA has to date been cheaper due to its coverage limitations.

Local calls to other "3" users cost Rp 150 (1.6 U.S. cent) per minute, while calls to other operators cost Rp 1,000 per minute.

The new kid on the block is also running a "buy one, get three" promotion, meaning that if you buy Rp 10,000-worth of prepaid credit, you can make Rp 30,000-worth of calls.

This promo means that a one-minute local call only costs Rp 50, which is the same price as a one-minute call from Esia, the CDMA operation of Bakrie Telecom.

Hutchison has also been spending big on advertising, including running full-page color ads in the country's largest daily, Kompas, every day since the launch of "3" on March 29.

The other operators have hit back by running similar ads and promos. For example, Indosat's Mentari is offering a promo price of Rp 50 per 30 seconds until Aug. 31, while Excelcomindo's XL Bebas is offering a flat rate of Rp 25 per second for all calls, Rp 40,000 in free credit upon SIM card activation, and 50 percent discounts on credit top-ups.

On its initial startup, Hutchison has so far invested $400 million, said president Rajiv Sawney during the launch of 3 on March 29, and said he expected the figure to increase to about $1 billion next year.

"Analysts are predicting some 30 million new subscribers in Indonesia in the coming years. We believe we can secure a good share of that market," Sawney told the press during the launch ceremony.

At present, Telkomsel leads Indonesia's mobile market, with some 35 million subscribers, followed by Indosat with 16 million and Excelcomindo with 9 million.

Telkomsel, with its pre-paid product Simpati, charges Rp 1,500 per 30 seconds during peak hours and Rp 300 during off-peak hours, while its other product, As, costs Rp 1,500 per minute during peak hours and Rp 300 per minute during off-peak hours.

For advertising in all media, Telkomsel was the biggest spender in 2005 on Rp 93 billion, followed by Rp 223 billion in 2006, and is expected to fork out even more this year as competition increases, according to a survey by AC Nielsen.

Meanwhile, Indosat's other GSM product, IM3, costs Rp 500 per 30 seconds for local calls during peak hours and Rp 250 during off-peak hours. Last week, IM3 announced that it would invest up to $1 billion this year.

Following Hutchison's arrival on Indonesian shores, major Russian conglomerate, Alfa Group, is set to invest up to $2 billion on setting up yet another wireless telecoms operation later this year.

"We see that a lot remains to be done in Indonesia in order to increase mobile penetration. The telecoms market is overly concentrated. There's not enough competition in that sense, and that severely limits the development of the sector," said Alfa vice president Andrei Zemnitsky.

Hutchison to start services soon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian unit of Hong Kong-based telecommunications giant Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. announced Wednesday the successful completion of the company's 2G and 3G user trials.

The company said that the completion of the trials, with threshold levels defined for all key network and service parameters fully met, would pave the way for the company to launch its nationwide 2G and 3G services on March 31 as scheduled.

PT Hutchison CP Telecom (HCPT), which is controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison, began the trials in December to evaluate the quality of the network and customer service processes.

"This is certainly an important milestone for HCPT to launch its services in Indonesia," HCPT chief executive officer Rajiv Sawhney said in a statement.

Hutchison, and Malaysia's Maxis Communications Bhd., which owns a 51 percent stake in PT Natrindo Telepon Sellular, are the most recent foreign entrants to the Indonesian mobile phone market, where about one in four people own a mobile phone.

PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), the country's biggest cellular phone operator, and PT Indosat, the No. 2, have about 51 million users combined.

Hutchison earlier said that it would also spend up to US$1 billion this year on constructing a network in Sumatra, the country's second most populated island.

In 2006, the company spent about $1 billion on erecting masts in Java, the most populated island, to enable it to compete with the existing operators.

Natrindo, which has allocated between $1 billion and $1.3 billion on network expansion over the next three years, also plans to begin offering services this year