Indosat reports 55% rise in 9M12 unaudited earnings

Dow Jones Newswires writes that Indonesia’s second largest mobile operator by subscribers PT Indosat has reported a 55% year-on-year rise in net income for the first nine months of this year, driven by increased revenue and one-time gains related to the disposal of certain assets. The group booked unaudited net profit of IDR1.63 trillion (USD169 million) in January-September, up sharply from IDR1.05 trillion in 9M11, on turnover that rose to IDR16.51 trillion from IDR15.35 trillion in the year-earlier period. In a statement published on Monday, Indosat said that its revenue in the period under review was bolstered by 7.8% growth in its mobile base to 55.5 million from 51.5 million at end-September 2011. The group also offloaded and leased back some 2,500 towers for USD406 million to PT Tower Bersama Infrastructure in August this year. Indosat, which is backed by Qatar Telecom, will publish its full, audited 9M12 results on 31 October.