Beeper rivalry leads to price war<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Even though the government has set minimum
\nsubscription fees for radio paging services, several beeper
\noperators are currently attempting to cope with the increasing
\ncompetition by offering lower fees.<\/p>\n
Karna Brata Lesmana, chief commissioner of PT Duta Pertiwi
\nSantosa, a private firm operating the Starpage beeper service,
\nacknowledged yesterday that the government has set the minimum
\nsubscription fee for beeper services at Rp 27.500 (US$11.72),
\nincluding the 10 percent value added tax, per month.<\/p>\n
However, several operators currently offer a subscription fee
\nof only Rp 25,000 per month, he said.<\/p>\n
He said that subscribers should consider not only the levels
\nof the subscription fees but also the services provided by the
\noperators before deciding on a pager service, including the speed
\nof the transferring of messages and the paging coverage.<\/p>\n
Karna said that in order to get more customers, many radio
\npaging operators also provide subsidies on the sales of pager
\nterminals.<\/p>\n
A subsidizing operator may recover the costs of pager
\nterminals only after collecting subscription fees for two years,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
He admitted that losing a subscriber who had subscribed for
\nless than two years would disadvantage the operator.<\/p>\n
Duta Pertiwi, which involves Motorola of the United States in
\nits Starpage service, currently serves 70,000 subscribers in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Karna said that his company plans to enter the market in
\nUjungpandang in South Sulawesi later this year, with some 3,000
\nsubscribers expected to register in the first year of operation.<\/p>\n
Throughout the country, there are currently 400,000 beeper
\nsubscribers. (icn)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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