Indonesia has fined Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings and nine affiliates 150 billion rupiah ($16.5 million) for allegedly behaving anti-competitively in the country’s telecom market.
Indonesia’s antitrust agency had ruled in 2007 that Temasek breached an anti-monopoly law due to its then-dual ownership of the country’s two largest cellular operators – Telkomsel and Indosat. Temasek had been accused of using its stake in both companies to fix prices.
The investment firm lost its final appeal in Indonesia’s Supreme Court in May last year, and risked having its assets in Indonesia seized if the fines were not paid.
Temasek and nine of its affiliates will each pay a fine of 15 billion rupiah. Reutersreported that Telkomsel’s payment had been received Monday by the antitrust agency.
Temasek expressed regret with the Supreme Court ruling and maintained its innocence, despite agreeing to pay the fine. “Temasek is disappointed that its application for civil review has been rejected as it has not contravened Indonesia’s anti-monopoly laws,” its senior managing director of strategic relations, Goh Yong Siang, said in a statement.
Temasek has since sold its share in Indosat for $1.8 billion to Qatar Telecom in 2008, in compliance with an earlier district court ruling. The firm now holds a 35% stake in Telkomsel.