Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – After Indosat and Tri announced the merger a few months ago, there was news that it was XL Axiata and Smartfren’s turn to decide to merge the companies. Is that right?
CEO of PT Smartfren Telecom Tbk (FREN), Merza Fachys said that plans for consolidation among operators have been heard for a long time. Not only from XL Axiata and Smartfren.
Responding to the news of joining XL, Merza only said that his party was open. Smartfren is ready to hold discussions with any party who has a vision similar to that of the company.
“We are of course open to FREN as a public company, we have to open up about things like this happening. Ready to have discussions with anyone who really has the same vision of growing telcos in Indonesia,” said Merza during the FREN Public Expose, Tuesday (28/12). /2021).
He said FREN is a company that is still developing. So it still needs a lot of support and is ready to collaborate with anyone.
Smartfren can also work with XL Axiata only. “It’s not even just XL, any global players or players who don’t exist globally yet,” he said.
Last October, Bloomberg quoted two sources as saying that Axiata Group and Sinar Mas Group were exploring options including merging XL and Smartfren. The two companies were said to be working with advisors at the time to consider options including a deal around network sharing.
The certainty of the Smartfren and XL Axiata merger is also still uncertain. According to sources, at that time the cooperation talks were still ongoing.
Previously in 2019, Axiata was approached by CK Hutchison to combine telecommunications operations in Southeast Asia. This is also revealed from a Bloomberg News report.
(npb/npb)
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