Hutchison Charoen Pokphand Telecom (HCPT) Indonesia, a new mobile operator, is happy with the market response to its debut despite tough competition from established mobile operators, a company executive has said.

"Despite the fact that we're a new player in the industry here, our growth is just as good as we expected, and we're happy with that," HCPT Indonesia chief marketing officer Suresh Reddy was quoted Saturday by English daily The Jakarta Post as saying.

However, he refused to reveal how many subscribers the company had signed up since its debut three months ago, only saying that business was quite promising.

Although the existing mobile operators have a strong hold on the market, Indonesia remains a prospective market for the cellular business given the country's low penetration rate, Reddy said.

The company, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based global cellular giant Hutchison Telecommunications International and Thai agribusiness group Charoen Pokphand, is upbeat that the penetration rate in Indonesia, which now stands at about 27 percent, will increase to up to 50 percent within the next three years.

Through its prepaid "3" product brand, the company expects to secure a slice of the action in competition against established GSM players Telkomsel, Indosat and Excelcomindo, as well as CDMA operators Mobile-8, Bakrie Telecom and Telkom.

Currently, Telkomsel dominates the market with some 38 million subscribers, followed by Indosat and Excelcomindo on 17 million and 10 million, respectively.

"Our main goals are focusing on broadening our network coverage nationwide and ensuring good quality services at affordable prices, " Redy said.

To grow its business here, he said, the company would invest 1 billion U.S. dollars over the coming two years.

Source: Xinhua