The Indonesian business watchdog has vowed to proceed probe into alleged price-fixing for text-message services by eight mobile communications providers, local press said Tuesday.

    The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) said it had found preliminary indications of a cartel-like arrangement between the companies.

    It said there's a kind of agreement between the mobile cellular companies to fix the prices of text messages at between 250 rupiah (about 2.7 U.S. cents) and 350 rupiah, the English-language newspaper The Jakarta Post reported.

    "We'll summon representatives of the eight mobile cellular providers in January to explain about the high text-message tariffs," KPPU chairman Muhammad Iqbal was quoted as saying.

    The country's eight mobile communications providers are Bakrie Telecom, Indosat, Telekomunikasi Seluler (Telkomsel), Telkom, Excelcomindo Pratama (XL), Hutchinson CP Telecommunications, Mobile-8 Telecom and Smart Telecom.

    Iqbal said it would take about 60 working days for the KPPU to finally make its adjudication on the case.

    "So, we'll determine in mid-March whether the eight mobile cellular operators have been engaging in price fixing or not," he said.