Jakarta. State-controlled telecommunication company Telekomunikasi Indonesia, or Telkom, announced on Wednesday (31/01) it had signed an agreement to buy a 30.4 percent stake in Hungary's mobile payment provider Cellum for $6 million to strengthen its financial technology division.

Telkom's subsidiary MetraNet signed a conditional subscription agreement with Cellum on Tuesday according to a filing to Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Wednesday.

Telkom said in a statement the corporate action will help strengthen its four core businesses: telecommunication, information, media and edutainment and services.

"We want to strengthen Telkom's digital financial services, improve their reliability and make them more integrated. These include services like online billing and e-money," Telkom's digital and strategic portfolio director David Bangun said.

MetraNet, a developer of mobile and online media, will spend $4 million initially to buy a 20.4 percent stake in Cellum, a company specializing in a wide range of mobile transaction services.

Later on, MetraNet will buy 10 more percent of Cellum for $2 million.

Telkom has not announced an exact date for the corporate action.

"We expect digital financial services, including mobile payment and trading services, to grow steadily, both in the consumer and B2B [business-to-business] segments," MetraNet's chief executive Widi Nugroho said in a statement.

Cellum, a multinational company providing mobile transaction services, operates across Europe and has branches in the United States, Austria, Bulgaria and Singapore.

Cellum's partners include IBM and MasterCard.

Telkom's MetraNet, established in 2009, develops various digital businesses, including mobile content, online games, online ticketing and e-commerce.

The company created a joint venture with tech giant Microsoft in 2011, establishing the e-commerce site PlasaMSN.