Indosat Profit Fell 14 percent

PT Indosat, Indonesia's second-largest phone company, said today it expects net income to rise 20% in 2007, the first profit gain in four years, as it adds more customers.

The stock rose to a two-month high. Profit fell 14 percent to 1.4 trillion rupiah ($154 billion) in 2006 from 1.62 trillion rupiah a year earlier.

Sales rose 5 % to 12.2 trillion rupiah, the company said in a statement today. Indosat, which is partly owned by Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte, is turning around its business by adding as many as 500,000 new customers each month this year to its 16.7 million subscriber base at the end of 2006. Indosat also plans to raise at least $500 million selling debt to expand its network.