Indonesia's cellular phone operator PT Indonesian Satellite (Indosat) said Monday the number of its subscribers fell by up to 12 percent in the first quarter of this year from 14.4 million at the end of 2005.

Indosat President Hasnul Suhaimi attributed the decrease to soaring inflation and a government ruling that obliges pre-paid cell phone users to register themselves.

But Hasnul said the company would not alter the targeted growth of subscribers by 3-4 million to reach up to 18 million subscribers this year.

Singapore Technologies Telemedia owns 40.77 percent stake in Indosat, Indonesia's second-largest telecommunications company after PT Telkom.

According to a government figure, the number of cellular phone users in Indonesia stood at 50.6 million as of April 14, 2006.

Source: Xinhua