Indonesia's biggest telco PT Telkom has set out plans to merge its fixed-line and mobile businesses.
The telco, which is 52 percent state-owned, is reportedly in discussions with advisors over the restructuring according to Bloomberg.
It's thought the purpose of the restructure is to eventually separate its consumer and enterprise businesses.
Telkomsel, the company's mobile business and 35 percent owned by Singtel, boasts 176 million customers and last year posted earnings of 87.5 trillion rupiah ($5.9 billion). Meanwhile, its fixed-line business Indihome dominates the overall market with 80 percent market share and over eight million customers.
A few months back PT Telkom signed two Memorandum of Understanding's with Singtel, with one of these focused around Singtel supporting Telkom to merge its mobile operator and fixed broadband businesses. The other MOU focuses around the collaboration of data centers.
Telkomsel has been slimming down its business after selling more than 10,000 mobile towers to Telkom's other unit Mitratel over the last few years, with a further 6,000 added a few weeks ago.
Similar moves have been seen in other markets as other operators restructure to accommodate the 5G and digital economy era. Telstra renamed its tower business Amplitel, NTT reacquired DoCoMo, while South Korean telco SK Telecom split its business in two.
Meanwhile $6 billion merger was completed earlier in the year between Telkomsel's domestic rivals Indosat Ooredoo and Hutchison to create Indonesia's second biggest telco.
