Indonesia Telkom may lift domestic bond issue to 3 trln rph

JAKARTA, March 28 (Reuters) - PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLKM.JK), Indonesia biggest telecommunications firm, said it may increase the size of its planned rupiah bond issue by 50 percent to 3 trillion rupiah ($329 million) and sell the debt in June.

Sudiro Asno, Telkom's chief financial officer, said late on Saturday evening that the bond size may be increased to 3 trillion rupiah from 2 trillion rupiah if there was sufficient appetite from investors.

"It depends on investor demand. It may be increased to a maximum limit of 3 trillion rupiah," Asno told reporters after he attended a coordination meeting with other several state-owned enterprises, adding that the bonds may be issued in June.

Rinaldi Firmansyah, Telkom's president director, said earlier this month that the company needed up to 7 trillion rupiah for capital expenditure and debt repayment. About 4 trillion rupiah of that would come from bank loans and 2 trillion rupiah from bonds.

Firmansyah also said on Saturday that most of the total $2 billion that the firm had earmarked for capital expenditure this year would be used for building infrastructure, including an undersea cable network and telecoms towers.

"Telkom is currently building an undersea cable network that will connect Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi islands with Lombok island and Kupang, (in East Nusa Tengara province) worth $160-$170 million of investment," Firmansyah said.

"I hope it will be completed by next year as currently the work is 50 percent done," he added.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, consists of a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands, but the population is mainly concentrated on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Bali, Kalimantan and Papua. ($1=9115 Rupiah) (Editing by Sara Webb)