A SINGAPORE telecom firm and its Qatari partner vowed on Thursday to fight an Indonesian ruling over broken anti-monopoly laws and could seek international arbitration on the issue.

'We intend to vigorously defend our position in our appeal to the district court, and actively consider seeking rulings under international law, if necessary,' said Sio Tat Hiang, executive vice president of Singaporean firm ST Telemedia.

He said the firm and partner Qatar Telecom would 'explore all available legal options' to defend their position against the decision by Indonesian regulator the Commission for Supervision of Business Competition (KPPU).

ST Telemedia, which is wholly owned by Singapore's state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings, and Qatar Telecom own 41.9 per cent of Indonesia's second-largest telecom firm Indosat.

Temasek also owns 56 per cent of Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), which has a 35 per cent stake in Telkomsel, Indonesia's largest mobile phone operator and Indosat's rival.

In a ruling on Nov 19, the KPPU said Temasek had violated Article 27 of Indonesia's anti-monopoly law through its investments and ordered it to divest its stake in one of the companies within two years.

But Temasek has stridently rejected the KPPU's ruling, with ST Telemedia lawyer K. Shanmugam describing it as 'absurd, devoid of logic.'

One legal avenue was to take the case to international arbitration, he said Thursday, adding that 'KPPU should not look at it as something that they can contain within themselves.'

Mr Sio said the KPPU's ruling was 'inconsistent with its previous position on ST Telemedia's investment.'

Some analysts have said the Indonesian regulator's decision could discourage foreign investors from putting money into the country. -- AFP