Yahoo! is looking for new local partners to help expand its market in Indonesia, according to The Jakarta Post.

Pontus Sonnerstedt, senior director of business development at Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said on Friday that the company needed new partners to lure more online users to boost advertising revenue.

“Indonesia is a promising market thanks to its large population,” he added in a media briefing.

The Singapore-based Yahoo!'s Asia regional unit has been working on improving its content in conjunction with local players, including news, mobile phone and advertisement companies, according to the article posted on Asia Media.

The company is cooperating with news providers 'Kompas' and 'Detik' to provide local news for Yahoo! users in the country. It is also collaborating with local mobile phone partners such as Telkomsel, Indosat, Excelcomindo and Hutch 3 to make news and messaging services accessible on mobile. Admax and Yellow Brick Road, moreover, are their local partners on advertising.

According to senior manager of communications for Southeast Asia Jason Coates, the search-engine unit of the company has recently been working on improving its home page display.

“This year we have launched new products, including Yahoo! Messenger for mobile phone users, Yahoo! GO 3G for mobiles and Yahoo! toolbar,” he added.

Yahoo! offers a number of products at its local domain www.yahoo.co.id.

According to the data from the Indonesian Association of Internet Service Providers, the number of its Internet users is booming in recent years. At the end of 2007, the number had reached 25 million, up from 20 million in 2006 and 16 million in 2005, Asia Media reported.

Sonnerstedt, citing a study, said the online users in Indonesia will reach 43 million by the end of 2009.