Telkom's Massive Injection into Gojek

Monday last week (16/11), Telkomsel publicly states their plan of investing in ride-hailing company, Gojek, with a significant sum totaling up to Rp2.1 trillion (US $ 150 million).

The Telkom Group subsidiary is said to conduct their plan through the purchase of convertible bonds (CB), according to the numbers confirmed on Tuesday (17/11). Considering the fact that both companies are strong powerhouses in Indonesia, the collaboration between Gojek and Telkomsel is proclaimed by numerous to be an effort in reinforcing the position of domestic companies as the main hosts in their own country. In addition, this investment will also be used by the two companies to accelerate digital transformation in Indonesia. President Director of Telkomsel, Setyanto Hantoro, said that this collaboration would be the foundation for presenting digital technology to all levels of society. Not only the Director of Telkomsel but also, President Director of PT Telkom Indonesia Tbk, Ririek Adriansyah, said that the investment in Gojek would help Telkom Group develop its digital service business. Nevertheless, such a monstrous sum of investment at the 13 digit caliber leaves people wondering whether the investment proves itself to be fruitful or bleak, and will this indicate a future integration between the services Telkomsel and Gojek?

The late news of the decision by Telkom has become a positive sentiment toward TLKM shares. After the announcement, TLKM shares promptly flew 3.26% to the level of 3,180 shortly after the opening of trading on Tuesday (17/11). It eventually closed at 3,220 after soaring up 4.89% from the previous closing. On the same day, TLKM net foreign buy reached a staggering 557.45 billion in all markets. The strengthening of TLKM has actually emerged since early this month. In last week only, the shares of TLKM company have strengthened by 12.59%. Likewise, foreigners have flocked to collect TLKM, and it reaches a net purchase value of a vast 1.20 trillion in only one week period. Reliance Sekuritas analyst Anissa Septiwijaya said that the two companies' collaboration is favorable, considering that both are market leaders in each respective industry. "Gojek itself is one of the largest on-demand ride-hailing service applications in Indonesia. This decision was also responded positively by the market where today TLKM shares had increased by 6%," she stated to Bisnis.com on Tuesday (17/11). In the span of 16-20 November, TLKM ranks second in foreign transactions with total sales of Rp 732.2 billion and a cumulative increase of + 7.69% compared to the previous period. The rise in TLKM was in line with the rally in IHSG. Recorded since early November, IHSG managed to spring up by 11.24% from 5,105 to 5,679 in the closing of trading on Wednesday (11/25).

Behind the realization of Telkomsel's investment in the Gojek company, it turns out that Minister of State-owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, had offended Telkom to immediately make improvements as it had not brought any significant changes, especially in this digital era. It is a fact that after being reprimanded, the market capitalization from Telkom continued to decline, but on the other hand Erick stated that after Telkom underwent the needed improvement, the market capitalization actually increased. This also means that Telkom could regain its glory, Erick also added that if Telkomsel is serious enough about building its digital strategy, it's market capitalization will be even better than Telkom’s previous glory. Referring to the great possibility that will occur, Erick also encourages Telkom to be able to take advantage of telecommunications infrastructure to develop new businesses such as big data and cloud. “The construction of a data center and clouding system is very important. It is clear that one of the weaknesses in our nation is the database, therefore I hope Telkom will become an important database aggregator by setting up a data center that can also be used by many parties and maintaining the confidentiality of each individual," he then added. Erick Thohir also explained that Telkom's role is very prominent especially during pandemic which has forced the world to do the acceleration of digitalization. All in all, these various statements regarding Telkom's decision to invest in Gojek shows optimism for Indonesia to take steps forward on its digital infrastructure.

Sources:

Detik

Kompas

CNN Indonesia

CNBC Indonesia

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