Cellular operators predict million new customers in 2000<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The association of cellular telecommunications
\noperators (ATSI) expects to see at least one million new
\nsubscribers this year.<\/p>\n
The head of the association's industry policy division,
\nRudiantara, said over the weekend that the number of subscribers
\nshould rise to over three million people by the end of this year,
\nfrom around 2.05 million registered at the end of 1999.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, he warned there would be a shortage in mobile
\nphone lines as the total line capacity currently amounted to 2.2
\nmillion lines.<\/p>\n
He said operators would still suffer from financial hardship
\nand therefore would not be able to invest in new infrastructure
\nif the government does not increase cellular phone tariffs.<\/p>\n
\"If the government do not raise the tariffs at a sufficient
\nlevel this year, I'm afraid operators will not be able to build
\nnew network facilities to meet skyrocketing demand since they are
\nalready short of funds,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Rudiantara said the economic crisis had severely hit mobile
\nphone operators, making them unable to make major investments to
\nupgrade facilities, let alone build new lines.<\/p>\n
He said the amount of total investment by all operators had
\ndeclined sharply from between $600 million and $800 million a
\nyear in 1995 and 1996 to only $100 million a year since 1997.<\/p>\n
He said the ailing industry had so far survived the crisis
\nthanks to the steady increase in the number of subscriptions.<\/p>\n
All the country's cellular phone operators booked a positive
\ngrowth in revenues from Rp 2 trillion in 1998 to Rp 3.2 trillion.<\/p>\n
He said the industry's revenues were expected to double this
\nyear to reach over Rp 6 trillion, in line with the predicted
\nincrease of subscribers.<\/p>\n
But the increase in revenues, which were all charged in
\nrupiah, had failed to bail out operators from their financial
\nhardships since about 90 percent of investment in the industry
\nwas made in U.S. dollars, he said.<\/p>\n
\"There will no be big investment to build new facilities or
\nlines this year unless the call tariff is increased to a more
\nreasonable level,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government currently has the right to set tariffs for both
\ncellular as well as fixed line services.<\/p>\n
Rudiantara said the government should relinquish its control
\nover telephone tariffs and let the market decide the level of
\ntariffs.<\/p>\n
He said a market driven scheme would benefit subscribers
\nbecause it would automatically abolish the large differential
\nbetween the official prices on prepaid telephone cards and the
\nrates in the black market.<\/p>\n
It would also benefit operators as it would allow them to set
\nthe price at a sufficient level to their profit interest without
\nnecessarily extorting the customers, he said.<\/p>\n
The tariff for mobile phone call service here is now set at Rp
\n325 (about 4.6 U.S. cents) per minute, much cheaper than the
\naverage international charge of 15 U.S cents per minute.
\nSubscribers are also required to pay a compulsory monthly
\nsubscription fee of Rp 65,000 per user.<\/p>\n
Rudiantara said the ideal call tariff for Indonesia's mobile
\nphone industry was around 11 U.S. cents per minute, a figure
\nwhich operators expected to be gradually achieved in the next two
\nor three years.<\/p>\n
If operators could set their own tariffs, they would be able
\nto accumulate funds needed to invest in infrastructure to
\naccommodate the growing demands.<\/p>\n
In addition, higher tariffs would also slow down the growth of
\ndemand to a level that would be manageable for operators.<\/p>\n
According to ATSI, the number of mobile phone subscribers has
\nbeen constantly growing in the past years despite the prolonged
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
The number of mobile phone subscribers across the country
\nincreased from over 980,000 in 1997 to 1.1 million in 1998 and
\n2.05 million in 1999.<\/p>\n
Rudiantara said the economic crisis had, nevertheless,
\naffected the productivity of call usage. Mobile phone usage had
\ndecline to an average of Rp 190,000 (US$27) per user per month in
\n1998 from Rp 250,000 per user per month in 1997, he said.<\/p>\n
Usage had bounced back to Rp 300,000 per user per month in
\n1999 in line with the easing off of the economic crisis' impact,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\"We expect usage to continue climbing up this year to hit Rp
\n400,000 per user per month,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia currently has seven operators offering three
\ndifferent mobile phone systems. PT Satelindo, PT Telkomsel and PT
\nExcelcomindo run the Global System for Mobile Communications
\n(GSM); PT Telesera, PT Metrosel and PT Komselindo run the
\nadvanced mobile phone system (AMPS); and PT Mobisel runs the
\nNordic mobile telephones (NMT) system.<\/p>\n
Data from state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom
\nshowed that Satelindo served 606,619 subscribers as of the end of
\nSeptember last year, while Telkomsel had 799,818 subscribers,
\nExcelcomindo 321,000 subscribers, Telesera 6,191 subscribers,
\nMetrosel 35,449 subscribers, Komselindo 40,196 subscribers and
\nMobisel 12,085 subscribers. (cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/cellular-operators-predict-million-new-customers-in-2000-1447893297",
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