 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ruling against Temasek not right: Indonesian minister
|
|
|
Fri, Feb 01, 2008
The Straits Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S State-Owned Enterprise Minister Sofyan Djalil said a ruling that charged Temasek Holdings with using investments in the nation's two biggest mobile-phone companies to fix tariffs 'isn't right'.
Indonesia's antitrust regulator, or KPPU, said on Nov 19 that Singapore's Temasek breached antitrust laws through stakes in Telekomunikasi Selular, or Telkomsel, which is majority-owned by Telkom, and in Indosat through Singapore Technologies Telemedia.
Temasek's unit Singapore Telecom owns 35 per cent of Telkomsel.
'We are of the opinion that the ruling isn't right,' Mr Djalil told reporters in Jakarta yesterday.
| 'The ruling says Telkomsel, as the biggest operator, must cut tariffs. If Telkomsel did that, smaller rivals would go out of business.'
Telkom, which earned more than a third of its revenue from its wireless unit in the first nine months of last year, sought court approval on Jan 25 to appear as a defendant in the case.
Telkom, Indonesia's biggest phone company, may lose out on earnings should the court force Telkomsel to lower tariffs by at least 15 per cent as stipulated in the ruling.
Still, the minister said he 'respects' the KPPU ruling. Temasek and its companies have filed an appeal against the ruling.
'Let's wait until the court decides,' said Mr Erwin Syahril, a member of KPPU. 'Sofyan Djalil is not a judge. I regret he made such a statement. It's not appropriate.'
In its Nov 19 ruling, the KPPU found Temasek and the eight companies linked to it guilty of cross-ownership, price-fixing and abusing market dominance.
The KPPU ordered Temasek to give up its indirect stake in one of the two cellular operators within two years. It also imposed a 25 billion rupiah (S$3.8 million) fine on each of the companies.
Temasek, which denies the charges, has said it will take the case to international arbitration if Indonesia's courts do not rule in its favour.
On Jan 21, Indonesia's district court postponed its decision on the appeal by Temasek over the KPPU ruling.
This came after KPPU applied to the Supreme Court to decide which district court should hear the appeal.
BLOOMBERG
|
