PT Metro Selular Nusantra

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PT Metro Selular Nusantara (Metrosel), previously known as PT Centralindo Panca Sakti (Centralindo), was granted an 8-year PBH agreement for an AMPS 800 cellular network in 1993. PBH agreements with PT Telkom were revenue-sharing contracts under which local investors were asked to provide financing and to complete the installation of a targeted number of lines. The government changed these agreements into joint ventures in December 1995. Telkom acquired a 20.17% stake in the company which changed its name to PT Metro Selular Nusantara (Metrosel) in 1995. After that transaction, Centralindo's stake in the company was reduced to 64%, and the remaining stakes were held by Telkom employees's pension fund Kopnatel (9.83%), PT Diati Yutha Cellular (5%) and the Armed Forces cooperative Kartika Eka Paksi. In November 1996, Asia Link B.V., a unit of Hong Kong's First Pacific Co., purchased a 35% stake, worth US$147 million, in Metrosel. Metrosel was then 35% owned by Asia Link, 40.2% by the local PT Centralindo Panca Sakti Cellular, and the remainder held by PT Telkom and its employee pension fund. PT Metrosel provided services in Central Java, East Java, and all the other areas in the eastern part of Indonesia all the way to Irian Jaya. Metrosel had 23,000 subscribers by the end of 1996. Investment in 1997 was expected to be 196 billion rupiah (US$83 million). The financing was expected to come from foreign strategic partners as equity participation. In 2001, Metrosel planned to invest US$200 million to replace its current analog Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) technology with the more advanced digital technology of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Lucent Technologies provided the CDMA infrastructure at the frequency of 450 megahertz. As of March 2000, Mobisel's subscribers numbered between 12,000 and 13,000, about 70% of the company's subscribers lived in rural areas. In April of 2003, PT Telkom signed a share swap involving a number of cellular phone subsidiaries with Centralindo valued at Rp364.8 billion (US$43 million). Under the deal Telkom handed over to CPC its entire 20.17% stake in Metrosel, 14.2% stake in PT Komunikasi Selular Indonesia (Komselindo), and 100% stake in PT Telkomindo Selular Nusantara (Telesera), all valued at Rp185.1 billion. In early December 2003, PT Mobile-8 Telecom (Mobile-8), a subsidiary of the Bimantara Group, launched cellular phone service based on CDMA 2000 1X and EV-Do. Bimantara Group invested US$60 million (Rp 260 billion) beginning in December of 2002 for the acquisition of Komselindo (PT. Komunikasi Seluler Indonesia), Metrosel (PT. Metro Seluler Nusantara) and Telesera (PT. Telekomunikasi Seluler Raya). The three failing cellular phone operators were merged into Mobile-8. Metrosel had 51,778 subscribers. On June, 12 2007 - merger was completed. None None