JAKARTA, January 5, 2007 (Reuters) - Indonesia's second largest telecommunications company, PT Indosat Tbk , is aiming to add between 5-6 million new mobile phone users this year, a senior company official said on Friday.
Indosat, 42 percent owned by Singapore's ST Telemedia, has around 15 million users, second after PT Telekomunikasi Selular which controls more than half the mobile phone market in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
Wahyu Wijayadi, Indosat's marketing director, predicted the number of mobile phone users in the country would reach 80 million by the end of this year from around 63-65 million last year.
"We are aiming to get between 5-6 million new customers this year, driven by aggressive promotion and helped by better economic condition," he said, adding that the firm plans capital spending of $1 billion in 2007.
"We are projecting the number of customers in the industry could reach 80 million. The mobile phone penetration rate could reach 35 percent from around 26-27 percent last year," Wijayadi told Reuters. The number of mobile phone users in Indonesia has been expanding rapidly in recent years and many industry experts predict the number of subscribers will hit 100 million by 2010.
Despite the rapid growth, the penetration rate remains low compared to other countries in the region such as Malaysia with around 80 percent and around half in Thailand.
Indosat's shares have gained about 14 percent over the last year.
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