国际英语新闻：Indonesia's Telkom, Bakrie Telecom in talks on CDMA tie-up

JAKARTA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- State-owned telecom giant PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia is in talks with mobile phone operator PT Bakrie Telecom over a potential "consolidation" of the two companies'low-cost CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) units, local media reported on Saturday.

Telkom president director Rinaldi Firmansyah on Friday confirmed that the two companies were in talks about Telkom's PT Telkom Flexi and Bakrie Telecom's Esia brand, both of which are CDMA providers.

"Whether it's a merger or an acquisition will depend on how the talks progress," he was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying.

Telkom was also in talks with other local operators about Flexi and was open to a variety of options, Rinaldi said.

Telkom revealed in March that it planned to spin off the Flexi unit to give the subsidiary more options to expand via acquisitions or through a joint venture, perhaps with an international partner.