Samsung to sell 3G system to Indonesia's Mobile-8

SEOUL/JAKARTA, Mar 5 (Reuters) South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said on Monday it would sell Indonesian mobile operator PT Mobile-8 Telecom Tbk systems for a ''third-generation'' mobile service for 3 million.

Samsung, the world's No. 3 maker of mobile phones, said in a statement it would provide the equipment for EV-DO Rev. A, an advanced service that upgrades networks based on code-division multiple access (CDMA) 2000, by 2011.

The upgraded CDMA standard allows fuller data service and lets users upload videos and photos from their handsets to networks at a faster speed, than previously.

For Indonesia's Mobile-8, the deal will help achieve its target to have 2.2 million new customers this year, taking its total subscribers to 4 million by the end of 2007.

Sintawati Halim, senior vice president of finance and procurement at Mobile-8, said ther cooperation ''will further enhance Mobile-8 coverage area and increase its network capacity above 20 million by 2012.'' Mobile-8 is one of about 10 players in Indonesia's rapidly growing mobile phone industry.

The company, controlled by PT Bimantara Citra Tbk , is among a half dozen operators to enter the 3G arena in the world's fourth most populous nation.

Samsung previously supplied equipment worth 0 million when Mobile-8 improved its network in 2003.

Shares in Samsung, South Korea's biggest stock, fell 0.53 percent to end at 563,000 won before the announcement, outperforming the wider market's 2.71 percent drop.

Mobile-8 share price plunged 7.14 percent to 260 rupiah on Monday as the Jakarta Composite Index <.jkse> dropped 3.5 percent along with other exchanges in the region as a global sell-off continued.

REUTERS CS DS1702