* CDMA deal may lead to near 100 pct market share for 2 firms (Updates with details, quote)JAKARTA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Indonesia's business competition supervisory commission (KPPU) said on Monday the planned merger of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia's (TLKM.JK) and PT Bakrie Telecom's (BTEL.JK) CDMA operations could lead to a monopoly. "The merger could potentially lead to a monopoly as they will hold almost 100 percent of CDMA market share," said Tresna P Soemardi, KPPU's chairman. "We advise Telkom and Bakrie Telecom to pre-notify us before conducting any merger plan." State-owned Telkom, the country's biggest phone provider, and Bakrie Telecom are in talks to merge Indonesia's two biggest CDMA operators in a deal estimated to be worth up to $1 billion. The merger between Telkom's TelkomFlexi, which has about 15 million subscribers, and Bakrie Telecom, which has 11 million subscribers, would create an entity with at least 70 percent of the CDMA market, analysts say. Harry Su, head of research at PT Bahana Securities in Jakarta, said he believed the deal would still go ahead. "It is possible that this (monopoly issue) could be become an obstacle to the merger... however, an amicable solution can eventually be reached." The combined operation would rank as the fourth-largest cellular operator after Telkom, PT Indosat (ISAT.JK) and PT XL Axiata (EXCL.JK). (Reporting by Fathiya Dahrul and Janeman Latul; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSJAK45489620100920 RitaIndonesiancompany.com
