JAKARTA, Dec 13, 2006 (Reuters) - Indonesia has given mobile phone firm PT Bakrie Telecom Tbk , currently operating only in some cities on Java island, a licence to operate nationally, the communications ministry said on Wednesday.
Bakrie Telecom is one of about 10 players in Indonesia's mobile phone sector, where the number of users expanded by around 50 percent last year and is expected to reach 100 million by 2010."PT Bakrie Telecom will get three channels nationally," the ministry said in a statement, referring to three frequency channels that could be used by the mobile operator.
The statement said the move was part of government reforms aimed at strengthening the sector.
The company, owned by diversified PT Bakrie & Brothers Tbk , has slightly more than one million subscribers and expects to end the year with 1.5 million, on the back of an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at lower-income users.
Bakrie Telecom is controlled through the holding company by the family of Chief Social Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie.
The mobile phone sector offers enormous potential as only about a quarter of Indonesia's 220 million population subscribes to a mobile phone service, compared with around 80 percent in Malaysia and more than 40 percent in the Philippines.
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