PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the nation’s biggest telephone company, may invest in countries including Ecuador and Vietnam as growth slows at home, with more operators competing for subscribers.

Indonesia’s most valuable company is considering expansion overseas after profit probably fell 12 percent last year, Abeng said. Intensifying competition from Saudi Telecom Co. and Li Ka- shing’s Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. drove down call charges last year, prompting Telkom to cut its revenue growth forecast for 2008 by more than half to 5 percent in November.

“There’re not so many growth opportunities in Indonesian telecommunications right now,” said Surabhi Chopra, an analyst with PT Mandiri Sekuritas in Jakarta. “These acquisitions may help increase other income.”

Telkom may use internal cash to fund overseas expansions and seek partners to buy the stakes, he said, declining to elaborate.

“We’re looking for places where we can leverage” experience in operating telecommunications, Abeng said. “Iran is one that we’re looking at,” although no agreements have yet been concluded, he said.

Telkom will probably report 2008 profit of 11.32 trillion rupiah ($1 billion), down from 12.86 trillion rupiah a year earlier, Bisnis Indonesia reported Friday, citing an unidentified person.

Abeng said the figure, which is 3.7 percent lower than the median estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, is “quite accurate” and profit this year will be “slightly affected” by pricing pressure.

Telkom aims to increase revenue by as much as 10 percent this year, President Director Rinaldi Firmansyah said on Jan. 5. Sales may have risen by between 2 percent and 4 percent in 2008, the Bisnis Indonesia report said.

Source: Bloomberg