Symponet bags US$300m deal to set up e-commerce in Indonesia

KUALA LUMPUR: Little known company Symponet Sdn Bhd has bagged a US$300 million deal from
Indonesia's PT Saras TLP Investment Group to establish an e-commerce platform in Indonesia.
Symponet, established only three years ago, has been given the job to integrate 480 outlets across islands of
Indonesia.
Symponet managing director Datuk Baharum Salleh said that the e-commerce platform will also have two
data centres and network operations centres - one each in Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. It will also have a data
recovery centre in Malaysia.
Baharum was speaking to reporters following the signing of three documents, one of which was an
memorandum of understanding for the e-commerce platform.
The Saras Group, which is described as providing international financial services, is also acting as guarantor
for two other submarine cable projects - a 1,300km cable from Iskandar Johor Bahru to Jakarta with an
estimated cost of US$100 million and a 800km from Kerteh in Terengganu to Vung Tau in Vietnam worth
US$60 million.
Symponet is yet to secure any funding for these projects, but Baharum said it is in talks with several
institutions to see who can offer the best deal.
However, initial work on the Johor-Jakarta Cable (JJC) has commenced with the likely date for completion set
for end-2012, at the latest.
Symponet also formalised the joint venture with PT Interkoneksi Internet Indonesia called Malindo Cable
Network Pte Ltd for the JJC yesterday.
Another agreement was for the setting up of a consortium with Vietnamese broadband service provider
Vietnam Hi Technology Development and Investment Joint Stock Company (Vitedi).
The equity structure of both cable projects are yet to be determined. Baharum said that there could be as many
as four partners in each project.
The Saras Group financing instrument arrangement is to the tune of US$453 million encompassing a total of
seven projects, two of which are yet to be announced.
The group was represented by its executive chairman Arya Widjaya.
Source: Business Times 2011/08/24