Indonesia's Excelcom Q1 net profit doubles

JAKARTA, April 30 (Reuters) - Indonesia's third-largest mobile phone operator, PT Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk (EXCL.JK), reported on Wednesday a doubling in first-quarter net profit, thanks to a sharp rise in its subscribers.

The company, 83.8 percent owned by Telekom Malaysia (TLMM.KL) through Indocel Holding Sdn Bhd, reported a net profit of 368 billion rupiah ($39.84 million) for the January-March period as its revenue jumped 51 percent to 2.7 trillion rupiah.

Excelcom said its subscriber base jumped 82 percent year-on-year to 18.4 million customers as of the end of March.

In December, Emirates Telecom ETEL.AD bought a 15.97 percent stake in Excelcom from its founding firm, Rajawali Corporation, for $438 million.

The number of cellular subscribers in Indonesia has been growing rapidly in recent years and is expected to reach 120 million by the end of 2008 from around 90 million last year.

Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel), 65 percent owned by PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (TLKM.JK), is the largest player in the market.

Telkomsel holds more than 50 percent market share, followed by PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT.JK). (Reporting by Nury Sybli, editing by Sugita Katyal) ($1 = 9,236 rupiah)