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Tag: Indonesia

  • AirAsia and Terengganu join hands as the latter eyes 5.5 million tourist arrivals

    AirAsia and Terengganu join hands as the latter eyes 5.5 million tourist arrivals

    AirAsia and Terengganu state government has signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) which will see both parties collaborate to promote local tourism in Terengganu. AirAsia will add in new route, allowing travellers to fly directly from Johor Bahru to Terengganu starting 22 June 2017.

    “Terengganu is ready to be known as a tourism state with efficient land and air accessibility, with good services, modern infrastructures and treasures of nature, culture and heritage. The additional Johor Bahru to Kuala Terengganu direct flights will definitely boost the arrival of tourists into Terengganu,” Terengganu chief minister, Ahmad Razif bin Abdul Rahman said.

    “With this collaboration, we will drive our marketing efforts to promote Terengganu as a must-visit destination in Malaysia. We are confident this will contribute significantly in achieving the state government’s target of 5.5 million tourist arrivals in Terengganu for this year,” Aziz Bakar, who sits on AirAsia Berhad’s board of directors added.

    In August last year, the airline’s Singapore unit has also collaborated with the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism on a marketing campaign to promote Indonesia in the city state. As part of the campaign, it showcased travel-related content on various mediums such as radio, Yahoo, Facebook and also brought two top Singapore YouTubers: Night Owls Cinematics and Lepak One Korner) on board.

  • CIMB Research starts coverage of CCK with Add rating

    CIMB Research starts coverage of CCK with Add rating

    CIMB Equities Research has initiated coverage on CCK Consolidated Bhd with an Add rating and a 12-month target price of RM1.28. CCK controls about 35% of Sarawak’s poultry market making it the state’s biggest producer. Besides Sarawak, it also has exposure in the poultry markets of Sabah and Indonesia (Jakarta and Pontianak). The group also operates 57 retail outlets, mainly located in its captive market, East Malaysia.

    CIMB Research said the target price of RM1.28 was based on 15 times CY18F price-to-earnings (P/E), a 30% discount to CIMB Malaysia’s consumer sector target P/E of 21.6 times. 

    “The current valuation of 8.8 times CY18F P/E is a 18.5% discount to the stock’s five-year historical mean of 10.8 times. Institutional shareholding is low at less than 0.3% (end-2016). Downside risks to our call are sharp decline in poultry prices and spike in raw material costs,” it said.

    CCK’s key advantage is its retail arm and strong branding. While its peers have limited or no retail exposure, all its poultry products are sold through its strategically located stores.

    The research house said this further complements its integrated supply chain, as shown by its better margins due to stronger pricing power.

    In contrast, its peers rely on third-party distributors and their selling prices are dependent on supply-demand dynamics. Having a retail unit also alleviates oversupply concerns as any excess supply can be absorbed.

    Malaysia ranks fourth globally in terms of poultry consumption per capita. Demand for poultry goods in the country is set to rise, thanks to population growth and urbanisation, especially in East Malaysia.

    “CCK stands to be a key beneficiary of these macro trends as it has a monopoly in Sarawak. Expansion of F&B chains and new mall openings should translate to higher demand for its products, in our view. CCK is also expanding capacity across its integrated supply chain to cater to the expected demand growth.

    “We are of the view that the company is undervalued as the market has overlooked its key advantages such as: i) its wide distribution network of 57 self-owned retail outlets, leading to superior margins vs. its peers; ii) captive market in East Malaysia, with stronger-than-average demand growth spurred by urbanisation; and iii) stronger pricing power, leading to less cyclical and volatile earnings unlike its peers.

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  • Sony Indonesia Appoints New President Director

    Sony Indonesia Appoints New President Director

    Sony Indonesia has announced the appointment of Kazuteru Makiyama as its new President Director. He serves as President Director starting on April 1, 2017, replacing Kikuo Okura.

    In a press release on Saturday (5/13), Sony Indonesia stated that Kazuteru Makiyama has been a part of Sony since 1998. He started his overseas sales and marketing career in 2007 in Dubai, and then took on new challenges in Saudi Arabia as head of Sony Saudi representative office in 2011.

    In 2014, Kazuteru was appointed Managing Director of Sony Eurasia (Turkey). During his tenure, he had to work in a very challenging and volatile Turkish business environment.

    “Indonesia is my fourth foreign assignment and the fourth Muslim-dominant country. In all my previous assignments, I always gave high priority to understanding the local culture at the beginning of the assignment, “said Kazuteru Makiyama, President Director of Sony Indonesia.

    He said, this year, Sony has a WOW surprise for all, including the latest Alpha cameras, new OLED televisions., Headphones with Noise Cancelling, PlayStation VR, and more.

    “Without understanding and adapting to the uniqueness of a culture, we will not be able to target consumers precisely in the right place and time,” he said.

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  • Cyber attack not disrupting stock market at IDX

    Cyber attack not disrupting stock market at IDX

    WannaCry malware attack has not disrupted the countrys share market, Tito Sulistio, President Director, Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), stated here, Monday.

    “The stock authority performs a routine check two hours before opening at 9 a.m. I directly oversaw todays monitoring system; I hope the market is protected from any threats, including the virus (ransomware),” Sulistio said in Jakarta.

    Some 88 countries, including Indonesia, have adopted a multi-layered security system which was already being used by US-based Nasdaq stock market.

    “We have Nasdaqs JATS-NextG (Jakarta Automated Trading System Next Generation) in our security protocols,” Sulistio revealed, while adding that the stock authority would continue to protect the system from any upcoming threats.

    During a separate occasion, earlier, Adena T Friedman, Nasdaq President, remarked her agency had committed to support IDXs trading and monitoring systems.

    “We have been partnering with Indonesia Stock Market to provide technology application for improving supervision and trading activities,” Friedman affirmed.

    Concerning the malware threat, the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) had suggested several preventive acts to reduce the impact of ransomware WannaCry.

    As the malware has infected only Microsoft-based computers, users have been asked to update the system by downloading Security Update Patch MS-17-010.

    “If the users are not aware about system updates, they can disconnect from any internet wires (LAN), or Wifi, and download the security patch from a non-Microsoft computer.

    Rifan has also recommended that users back up their files in a separate flash drive (USB) or a portable hard disk, before updating the security system on the computer.

    He further revealed that WannaCry malware had attacked computers in some 200 countries, including Indonesia.

    The malware works by locking the computers internal system and encrypting the file, after which the users are asked to pay a “ransom” in exchange for their data.

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  • Bank Indonesia Issues Regulation on Carrying Foreign Banknotes of at Least IDR1 Bln

    Bank Indonesia Issues Regulation on Carrying Foreign Banknotes of at Least IDR1 Bln

    There is a new regulation issued by Bank Indonesia (BI) on the carrying of foreign banknotes into and outside the country. This regulation is set forth in Bank Indonesia Regulation (PBI) No 197/7 / PBI / 2017 dated May 5, 2017.

    This regulation arranges that foreign banknote carriages within and outside the country of at least equivalent to IDR1 billion is only permitted by licensed entities, including banks and non-bank Foreign Exchange Business Activities that have obtained permits and approval from BI to carry foreign banknotes.

    In addition, a qualified Rupiah Money Processing Service Company (PJPUR) listed in BI may carry foreign banknotes across borders, but only as transporter.

    “The release of this regulation is in line with BI’s efforts to achieve and maintain the stability of the rupiah,” said Executive Director of BI’s Department of Foreign Exchange Management, Budianto at Thamrin Building, BI, Central Jakarta, Monday.

    The BI regulation is effective on March 5, 2018, but the imposition of new violation sanctions will be applied on May 7, 2018 or two months after the enactment of the PBI.

    The grace period for enforcement of the regulation to strengthen socialization aspects to the community before it is implemented.

    “This BI regulation is valid since March 5, 2018, the imposition of new sanctions will be effective on May 7, 2018. There is still a transition period of 10 months ahead,” said Budianto.

    This provision also relates to Law Number 8 Year 2010 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering Crime and Government Regulation No. 99 of 2016 concerning Cash Advance issued by the Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK). With the issuance of the new regulation, it will also strengthen the foreign banknotes cross country.

    As for sanctions provided if a party violates, ie prevention of the total number of foreign notes brought.

  • Thai Giant Rubber Maker’s Capacity in Indonesia Will be Raised by 60,000 Tons

    Thai Giant Rubber Maker’s Capacity in Indonesia Will be Raised by 60,000 Tons

    Sri Trang Agro-Industry, the world’s largest producer of natural rubber, plans to increase annual capacity by 20% to 2.9 million tons by year-end to take advantage of a market recovery.

    The company accounts for about 30% of output in its home market of Thailand, the largest rubber-producing country. It aims to expand its global market share from 12% now to 20% in two to five years, said Veerasith Sinchareonkul, an executive director.

    Sri Trang will invest 2.5 billion baht to 3 billion baht ($72.1 million to $86.5 million) in new production lines, including new manufacturing facilities for sheet, block and liquid rubber in northeastern Thailand with annual capacity totaling 86,000 tons.

    Capacity at Indonesian facilities will be raised by 60,000 tons. The company also intends to step up output of medical gloves made from natural rubber, of which it is among the top five manufacturers worldwide.

    Sri Trang operates 35 plants and owns rubber plantations spanning 80 million sq. meters. Consolidated sales grew 26% on the year to 77.2 billion baht for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31. The company booked a net loss of more than 700 million baht, down from a 1.1 billion baht profit in fiscal 2015.

  • Boost for Sinarmas Land profit from Indonesian recovery

    Boost for Sinarmas Land profit from Indonesian recovery

    Propery developer Sinarmas Land saw its profits soar off the back of better sales from its joint venture developments. Net profit surged 136.6 per cent to S$37.2 million for the three months to March 31. This came off the back of higher revenue, which rose 31.8 per cent to S$237.1 million.

    It attributed its stellar performance to an increase in residential units handed over to home buyers in its mixed-use development BSD City in Indonesia, but said it was offset by lower sales of industrial land in Indonesia.

    It also recorded a share of profits in joint ventures of S$3.8 million for the first quarter, compared with a loss of S$3.1 million in the same period last year.

    Ms Margaretha Widjaja, executive director of SML and vice-chairman of Sinarmas Land Indonesia, said that Indonesia’s economic recovery has been aided by improved commodity prices, albeit at a gradual pace.

    While Indonesia’s property sector had been negatively impacted by extended periods of lackluster economic performance, consumer purchasing power is set to improve, she added.

    “The group is cautiously expecting a stronger recovering, following the Indonesian government’s larger infrastructure spending, increased direct investments, led by the implementation of economic stimulus packages,” she said.

    Earnings per share came in at 0.87 cents for the first quarter, compared with 0.37 cents for the same period a year earlier.

    Net asset value as at March 31 was S$0.44, down from S$0.47 three months earlier.

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  • The Body Shop rolls out £10m digital transformation strategy

    The Body Shop rolls out £10m digital transformation strategy

    L’Oréal-owned cosmetics brand The Body Shop has launched a £10m, three-year digital transformation strategy in a bid to revamp its online appeal and boost the e-commerce channel.

    As part of the strategy, the British retailer has launched in 11 countries a new mobile-first e-commerce site which integrates content and commerce. The countries where the site is now live include the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia, with 20 further countries expected to be added throughout the year.

    Given the scale of the business, The Body Shop has given regional variations to its new platform, which means its presence will be adapted to each relevant market according to consumer preferences for merchandising, payment and delivery fulfillment.

    The new website has a live appointment booking service for in-store consultations and a personalised skincare diagnostic tool. A click & collect functionality is also expected to launch later in the year.

    The Body Shop was founded in 1976 and quickly became a retail favourite with its colourful range of body butters, but in recent years it has struggled to remain relevant in a highly competitive market.

    The £10m investment to expand its global e-commerce footprint comes after the retailer saw a 19% increase in online sales in 2016 – double than the prior year’s figure. The share is expected to reach 20% this year.

    “With the successful launch of a responsive, content-rich digital platform, we have established a strong foundation to support our future innovation agenda and global rollout,” said chief digital officer Harriet Williams.

    “The Body Shop is a big business, operating in a large number of countries with both franchise and non-franchise markets. The platform needed to strike the right balance between global brand consistency and local relevance, being flexible enough to meet the needs of each individual market.”

    The Body Shop sells its nature-inspired products in more than 3,000 stores in 66 countries.

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  • The Serious Fraud between Roll Royce with Countries Including Indonesia

    The Serious Fraud between Roll Royce with Countries Including Indonesia

    Rolls-Royce Holdings doesn’t expect to take a hit from the investigation into the company’s audits, according to finance chief Stephen Daintith. The Financial Reporting Council, the U.K. regulator for corporate governance and reporting, said Thursday it has commenced an investigation into the conduct of KPMG Audit PLC related to the auditing of financial statements for two company entities over a four year time period.

    The FRC decision follows an announcement by the Serious Fraud Office in January of a deferred prosecution agreement between the SFO and Rolls-Royce. U.K. fraud investigators said at the time Rolls-Royce engaged in illegal business practices over a period spanning three decades and would pay more than $800 million in fines. The SFO has done a “thorough piece of work”, Mr. Daintith said.

    In February, the company reported a record loss of £4.03 billion ($5.2 billion). KPMG said Thursday it was “confident in the quality of all the audit work” it performed for the aircraft engine maker.

    “It is important that regulators acting in the public interest should review high profile issues. We will co-operate fully with the FRC’s investigation, which follows the SFO’s investigations into Rolls-Royce,” said the auditor in a statement. Jimmy Daboo, partner at KPMG, said “we have confidence in the audits we’ve done.”

    The illegal payments would have been hard for an external auditor to spot, said Sandy Morris, an equity analyst at Jefferies International Ltd. in London. “Most of these payments were small and it is very unlikely KPMG would have selected these cash transactions to be tested during their audit,” Mr. Morris said.

    On average, Rolls-Royce made payments between $1 million and $4 million, he said. As KPMG only tested a proportion of Rolls-Royce transactions during its audit, chances are high it would have missed these payments, especially as they were often obfuscated and conducted by middle managers, Mr. Morris said.

    The Serious Fraud Office said the January agreement covers 12 counts of conspiracy to corrupt, false accounting and failure to prevent bribery. Wrongdoing took place in business dealings in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China and Malaysia, the U.K. government said.

  • Indonesia’s Uber rival Go-Jek raises $1.2 billion led by Tencent at a $3 billion valuation

    Indonesia’s Uber rival Go-Jek raises $1.2 billion led by Tencent at a $3 billion valuation

    Go-Jek, the motorbike on-demand startup that is battling Uber and Grab in Indonesia, has closed a new round of $1.2 billion led by Chinese internet giant Tencent, two sources close the company told. The deal, which we understand was signed last week, values the company at $3 billion post money. It is expected to be officially announced “soon.”

    Go-Jek raised $550 million as recently as August 2016, when it commanded a valuation of $1.3 billion so this new deal has pushed that figure up considerably over a short period of time. The Information previously reported that Tencent was considering an investment in Go-Jek. Other investors in the round are not clear at this stage, but we believe them to be from the existing pool of backers.

    One source told that Alibaba and its financial services spin-out Ant Financial held talks with the startup, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Ant Financial has since partnered with media firm Emtek to enter Indonesia. Alibaba and Tencent are fierce rivals that are not known for co-investing in deals, although both hold equity in Didi Chuxing after investing separately in Didi Kuaidi and Didi Dache which ultimately merged to create Didi (and is buying Uber’s China business).

    Go-Jek claims to have over 200,000 drivers across some 25 cities in Indonesia. It started out as a pure bike taxi player — because two wheels are an efficient way to navigate the congested streets of Asian mega-cities like Jakarta — but it has since expanded into four wheels with its GoCar private car service and a partnership with taxi firm Blue Bird. In contrast, Uber and Grab have both introduced motorbike taxi services in Indonesia to crank up the competition.

    Focused on the Indonesian market only, Go-Jek is involved in a dog fight with Uber and Singapore-headquartered Grab. Uber has, of course, raised more than $8 billion from investors — at a valuation that has surpassed $60 billion — while Grab is reportedly working on a new $1.5 billion funding round. Its most recent raise was $750 million at a $3 billion valuation in September 2016, but you can expect that figure to increase in the near future. Our sources told us that Go-Jek’s new fundraising is principally focused on increasing its war chest in order to continue to battle Uber and Grab on driver and passenger subsidies, develop its mobile payment business — Go-Pay — and expand its services business, which allows customers to get services such as shopping, massages and more on demand.

    Last year, Go-Jek hinted that it would expand its business overseas, but to date it has remained in Indonesia. One source told us that Go-Jek has considered partnerships or investments to expand to markets where other bike on-demand services exist, such as India or Sri Lanka, but it is staying focused on the battle in Indonesia. Aside from being Southeast Asia’s largest economy and population — Indonesia is home to over 250 million people — the country is tipped to be Southeast Asia’s largest internet economy by some margin.

    The region’s ride-sharing market itself is predicted to grow from $2.5 billion in 2015 to $13 billion by 2025, according to a report co-authored by Google. Indonesia’s share of that segment is forecast to jump from an estimated $0.8 billion to $5.6 billion over that same period.

    Grab is making a big push to win the opportunty. The company recently pledged to invest $700 million into its Indonesia operations, which includes building out its team, localizing its tech and making investments. Grab recently snapped up Kudo Payments in an undisclosed deal which sources told us is in the region of $80 million to $100 million. The acquisition is designed to boost Grab’s own payment platform, GrabPay, which is following GoPay’s footsteps and taking Grab into services beyond just car rides.

    The new Go-Jek deal also marks Tencent’s first investment in Indonesia, and the latest in a flurry of startup deals from the company, which is best known for operating China’s top messaging platform, WeChat. Tencent bought five percent of Tesla in March for just over $2 billion, and it has since done deals with Chinese streaming service Kuaishou and cross-border payment provide Airwallex.

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  • Garena rebrands as Sea, plans to conquer Indonesian e-commerce

    Garena rebrands as Sea, plans to conquer Indonesian e-commerce

    Garena, widely considered to be Southeast Asia’s most valuable startup, has rebranded itself as Sea Ltd. as the first step in an expansion plan to compete with China’s Alibaba and gain some ground in the untapped, but lucrative, Indonesian market.

    The company’s new name is a popular acronym for Southeast Asia, but is also meant to represent Garena’s regional aspirations. Under the new name will be their existing businesses: online games brand Garena, e-commerce platform Shopee and AirPay, a digital payments service.

    News of the company’s name change follows the announcement of the company’s latest funding round, which helped them secure US$50 million from a handful of investors that include some of the region’s wealthiest dynasties, such as GDP Venture – led by Martin Hartono, son of Indonesia’s richest man – and JG Summit Holdings Inc. – founded by Philippine billionaire John Gokongwei.

    Other investors in the round include Farallon Capital Management, Hillhouse Capital, Cathay Financial Holding Co. and an investment arm of Taiwanese food conglomerate Uni-President Enterprises Corp.

    There are reports the company is preparing to list in the United States, a move that could value them at around US$1 billion. Word is that the company has engaged Goldman Sachs Group to help them oversee their IPO.

    The company got a huge boost when Chinese digital conglomerate, Tencent Holdings Ltd., began investing in the company in 2013. Tencent remains one of their biggest backers and its support has not only been financial. The Chinese techno-giant has given Garena a vision of how to expand out from gaming into other industries that could help it woo investors and get new users onboard with their diversity of services.

    Garena was founded by China-born entrepreneur Forrest Li in 2009. It has since grown to be one of the most significant e-commerce and gaming players in the region. It is estimated Southeast Asia’s gaming market will be worth US$4.7 billion in the next two years. Sea seems to be taking a similar strategy as Tencent, who started with a messaging software and quickly expanded into gaming, e-commerce and (now) artificial intelligence.

    Sea is paying particular attention to the increasingly competitive e-commerce market, where Alibaba and its competitor JD.com are duking it out for dominance. Huge consolidation and acquisitions are beginning to take place, with the latest being JD.com’s investment in Tokopedia, an Indonesian e-commerce platform. Rumors of Amazon’s arrival in the region are still swirling around, so you can be sure the market is only going to keep heating up.

    The big trophy everyone seems to be angling for is Indonesia’s largely untapped market. Though it’s not quite yet at the maturity levels of the Singaporean or Malaysian markets, Indonesia has an Internet-savvy population and a reputation for adopting innovative tech early on and quickly.

    Currently, the e-commerce market is expected to hit US$130 billion in value, only a third behind China and India’s markets – for comparison, Indonesia is home to around 250 million people, compared to China and India’s one billion each.

    The plan for Sea’s expansion into Indonesia includes using the new funds to build up Shopee’s infrastructure in Indonesia. According to the company, Shopee’s annual market value has more than doubled in the last nine months to reach US$3 billion. Other strategies include some significant Indonesia-related hires, such as former Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo, former Indonesian trade minister, Mari Pangestu and the director of an Indonesian coal producer, Pandu Sjahrir.

  • Garuda Indonesia Provides 45,000 Seats during Eid Holiday

    Garuda Indonesia Provides 45,000 Seats during Eid Holiday

    PT Garuda Indonesia provides extra 45,000 seats to serve people for 2017 Eid al-Fitr.

    “This year we offer extra seats to people or consumers who travel before Eid al-Fitr and after the celebration,” PT Garuda Indonesia President Director Pahala N. Mansyuri said in Bali on Saturday (6/5).

    He added that the extra seats offered before and after 2017 Eid al-Fitr increase 39 percent compared to the previous year.

    “We offer the extra seats eight days before and after the celebration starting from 18 June to 3 July 2017,” he added.

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  • Plug and Play Accelerator Program has officially started in Indonesia

    Plug and Play Accelerator Program has officially started in Indonesia

    In collaboration with Gan Kapital, a strategic investment advisory in Indonesia, Plug and Play is finally going to announce the 11 selected startups for its first batch of accelerator program in Indonesia. The announcement will be held at a coworking space where these startups will reside and learn during the 3-month program in Kuningan, South Jakarta. Based in Silicon Valley, Plug and Play Indonesia is part of the largest startup accelerator program in the world.

    Plug and Play Indonesia accepted more than 400 startups applied between the month of February and March. These applications came from Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Bali, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Brazil, and even Germany. Indeed, Plug and Play Indonesia accelerator program also welcomes foreign startups trying to enter Indonesia’s market. Plug and Play Indonesia proudly introduces the startups selected to be part of its first batch of accelerator program, that is Dana Didik, KYCK, Otospector, Bustiket, Karta Indonesia Global, Sayurbox, Brankas, Astrnt, Bandboo, Wonderlabs, dan Toucan.

    “Selecting these startups wasn’t an easy task because we met with so many high quality startups. We are positive that our months of rigorous selection process has led us the 11 best startups,” said Nayoko Wicaksono as the Accelerator Director of Plug and Play Indonesia. After carefully reviewing the online application and documents, 50 startups were invited for an initial pitch session on March 29 and 30.

    During this initial pitch, startups were asked to explain business model, traction, financial plan, as well as the team profile. The next step was another round of pitching in front of a panel judges from Plug and Play Indonesia, Play and Play Asia Pacific, Plug and Play Silicon Valley, as well as representatives from corporate members, such as Astra International and Bank Negara Indonesia. “Our Corporate Partners also have the right to vote for the startups who will be joining our accelerator program. This is one of the way to ensure that our startups will get the benefit of working with corporates,” said Wesley Harjono, President Director of Plug and Play Indonesia who was also a part of the final judging panel.

    Collaboration with corporate and seed funding are just some of the benefits received by the 11 selected startups. During the 3-month accelerator program, these startups will also be mentored closely by pool of experts united in Plug and Play Indonesia ecosystem. These startups will also have access to workshops of different topics that will be delivered by more than 60 experts from different areas. Among Plug and

    Play Indonesia pool of esteemed mentors are Kevin Darmawan from Coffee Venture, Sebastian Sieber from Lazada, Sukan Makmuri from KUDO, Anton Soeharyo from Touchten, Natali Ardianto from Tiket.com, Nikita Semenov from Zen Room, Norman Sasono from Bizzy, Mark. F Winkel from Prisma Public Relations, Rama Mamuaya from Daily Social, Wempy Dyocta Koto from Wardour and Oxford, and many more. The list doesn’t stop there, the selected startups will also have free access to a coworking space strategically located in elite are of Kuningan, South Jakarta. “With this holistic support from Plug and Play Indonesia, our startups can focus on developing their product to the market,” said Nayoko

    Wicaksono, Accelerator Director at Plug and Play Indonesia. At the end of the 3-month accelerator program, Plug and Play Indonesia will be holding a Demo Day. This Demo Day is meant to bridge Plug and Play startups with local and international customers and investors.

    The Demo Day is currently scheduled to be in August 2017.

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  • Underserved Indonesian Areas to be Connected via Thaicom and Axiata Partners

    Underserved Indonesian Areas to be Connected via Thaicom and Axiata Partners

    The partners inked the deal for Axiata Business Services to purchase the remaining capacity on IPSTAR over Indonesia to deliver Axiata’s operating company, PT XL Axiata Tbk (“XL”), more than 1 Gbps High Throughput Satellite (HTS) capacity for the provision of broadband services in Indonesia. According to the terms of the agreement, Axiata Business Services will use capacity of up to seven Ku-band shaped and spot beams on the IPSTAR-1 broadband satellite located at 119.5°E for the provision of broadband services in Indonesia, including broadband access direct to residential and enterprise premises, and cellular network backhaul.

    The IPSTAR-1 satellite was launched in 2005 and was the first HTS ever launched into orbit. IPSTAR cellular backhaul and direct to premise broadband connectivity provides telecom operators with the ability to expand their networks, launch new broadband services and reach underserved areas quickly and cost-effectively.

    Asri Hassan Sabri, Group Chief Business Operations Officer of Axiata, reported that his company is leveraging on Thaicom’s capabilities in Asia to grow their enterprise business quickly and flexibly, all the while providing reliable broadband services to all potential customers, regardless of their location. Where terrestrial-based connectivity is limited or unavailable, HTS connectivity serves as an enabler to unlock the digital ecosystem for new market opportunities. As the world’s first ever HTS, launched in 2005, Thaicom’s IPSTAR helps us to connect users in remote and underserved areas of Indonesia cost-effectively.

    Dian Siswarini, Chief Executive Officer of XL, added that as the biggest archipelago in the world, there are many areas and islands in Indonesia that have not been served by Internet services as of yet.The availability of HTS will help to cover these unserved areas with considerable economic potential. On top of that, the company will be able to support the local community’s economic growth and Indonesian government’s vision to accelerate the national development of digital economy across Indonesia.

    Dominic P Arena, Group Chief Strategy Officer of Axiata, indicated that this HTS partnership is highly strategic for Axiata and the beginning of what all believe can become a core future broadband delivery platform for the operating companies to deliver broadband connectivity, media and entertainment, IoT and other digital services to enterprise and consumer home segments. More importantly, this partnership allows the firm to provide the best connectivity option and reach to underserved communities, in line with Axiata’s broader goal of advancing Asia by piecing together the best in innovation, connectivity and talent.

  • Indonesia Sees Unemployment Drops by 0.28 Percent

    Indonesia Sees Unemployment Drops by 0.28 Percent

    Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Economist Dzulfian Syafrian positively welcomed the decline of the open unemployment rate (TPT) in February 2017 as much as 0.28 percent.

    This figure is lower compared to that of February 2016 with 0.17 percent. He also claimed that the drop indicates the increase of labor absorption.

    “However, the increase of workforce as much as 6.11 million people compared to August 2016 or 3,88 million compared to February 2016 has to be given a special attention from the government since it is a double-edged sword,” he said on Friday, May 5.

    Dzulfian explained that the high number of productive citizens is a good capital for development.

    “Nevertheless, if the government cannot manage it well, it can be a burden instead of an advantage,” he added.

    He further said that when this high number of citizens are unemployed, the government have to bear the consequences of a higher number of crimes, radicalism, and others.

    Therefore, Dzulfian urges the government to focus on creating employment opportunities and enhancing the quality of employment. He added that one of the policies that the government can implement to improve employment issues is the investment-oriented economy.

    “Economic and political stability and infrastructure support are two big agendas that the government needs to prepare in order to secure investment and improve the quality of employment for the people.”

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