Indonesia-based telecom giant PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) has just spent Rp 115 billion of its money to acquire the majority of shares of Australia-based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider, the Contact Centers Australia (CCA). This acquisition itself was carried on through its subsidiary in Australia, Telkom Australia. Even though the actual amount of Telkom’s possession of CCA’s shares remains unknown, Syarif Syarial, the President Director of Telkom International (Telin), claimed that Telkom will soon acquire around 75 percent of shares of this Australia’s BPO provider.

Siam Nugraha, the CEO of Telkom Australia, stated that his company would take this collaboration with CCA as an opportunity to expand its business in Australia and New Zealand. Such strategy is taken to accommodate the increasing number of demand in Australia.

“We, along with the CCA team, plan to keep growing at the market of Australia and New Zealand, as well as develop the concept of BPO in Indonesia,” Nugraha stated last weekend. “After evaluating our investment plan in Australia, we were impressed by the quality of management, system, and human resource that CCA holds,” he added.

CCA itself is a company which was established by Ben Crabbe, Sue Crabbe, and Peter Thomson. The company has established itself as one of the most prominent BPO providers in Australia as well as possessed two subsidiaries: the Financial Information Services (FIS) Pty Ltd which operates in New South Wales and Contact Center New Zealand Ltd (CCNZ) which is located in Wellington, New Zealand.  At the moment, CCA has hired more than 600 employees through the latest contact center technology.

Further, Telkom’s decision to acquire the company is actually in line with one of its three main programs in 2014, which is called the International Exposure (InEx) Program. It also becomes one of Telkom’s milestones, as the company has never stopped attempting to be a global player in Telecommunication, Information, Media, Edutainment & Services (TIMES) by establishing subsidiaries abroad, global partnership, or M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions). This acquisition also strengthens Telkom’s existence in Australia, after the company previously established Telkom Australia in Melbourne, Victoria.

“By this even stronger partnership with the TelkomGroup, we are extremely sure that we have a place in Australia and New Zealand’s market growth, as well as the capacity to adopt their way of thinking to develop our BPO business here in Indonesia and the world,” Nugraha stated.

Peter Thomson, CCA’s director, explained that even though Telkom Australia has acquired the majority of their shares, the deal won’t change CCA’s way of operating its business and dealing with its clients.

Another positive comment came from Ben Crabbe, one of CCA’s founders. He stated that his company gladly welcomes the partnership with Telkom, as it will level up their business performance.

“For the past 12 years we have been focusing on building the best BPO in Australia by building the strongest team as well as using the most prominent technology. We have created something which is highly special, just like what Telkom Indonesia has done. We are extremely glad to welcome this new partnership as it would give us (CCA) the chance to take our business to a higher level,” Crabbe stated.

[Illustration: Telkom]