Saudi Telecom ups stake in Indonesian operator to 80%

Saudi Telecom, Saudi Arabia’s largest phone operator by market value, raised its stake in Indonesia’s NTS, known as Axis, to 80.1 percent from 51 percent, the company said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website on Saturday.

Malaysia’s Maxis Communications stake in Axis decreased to 14.9 percent from 44 percent. STC will manage and operate Axis and name all of its executives, it said in the statement.

STC will also offer an $81m loan and is committed to offer another $290m when necessary as part of the Indonesian unit’s five-year plan, according to the statement. Maxis will cancel its loans to Axis totaling $412m.

Axis started to offer mobile phone services in mid-2008. With more than 10 million subscribers, the company covers more than 400 cities in Indonesia, the statement said.