The country's largest telecommunications operator Telkomsel increased its number of subscribers by up to 6 million people in the first quarter of this year, up from the total number in 2008, an executive says.

The number of Telkomsel subscribers went up to 71.3 million people in the first three months of this year from 65.3 million in 2008 said Rinaldi Firmansyah, the president director of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), the parent company of Telkomsel.

PT Bakrie Telecom (Btel), a relatively newcomer in the telecommunications industry, is challenging giant rivals for a chunk of the international direct dialing business.

The company, controlled by the politically wired Bakrie family, launched Wednesday its international call business, marking the end of the duopoly in the service currently enjoyed by state-run PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and PT Indosat, controlled by Qatar Telecom (Qtel).

PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (TLKM.JK), Indonesia's largest telecoms firm, reported a weaker-than-expected 22 percent fall in first-quarter net profit, although forecast higher 2009 revenue despite tighter competition.

Telkom, Indonesia's largest listed firm with a $14.8 billion market value, has been hit by new entrants into the mobile market, where operators have been forced to spend more on promotions and reduce their charges, leading to lower average revenue per user, analysts said.

Qatar Telecommunications Co QTEL.QA (Qtel) posted its third-largest ever quarterly profit in the first quarter as it increased customers in its home market, Iraq and Indonesia. Net income in the three months to March 31 rose 15 percent to 604.4 million riyals ($166.1 million), the company said in a statement, slightly below a HSBC forecast earlier this month.