Government allocates Rp 45b for rural phones<\/p>\n
Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government has decided to allocate an initial Rp 45
\nbillion (US$5.02 million) to provide basic telephone services in
\nabout 43,000 villages nationwide that have no access to the
\nservice.<\/p>\n
"It took quite sometime to decide the amount of the budget
\nallocated," Ministry of Transportation telecommunications and
\ninformation director Tulus Rahardjo said on the sidelines of the
\nNational Seminar on Telecommunications 2003 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
"In fact we should start the project at least by the end of
\nDecember."<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the former spokesman for the Directorate
\nGeneral of Post and Telecommunications at the Ministry of
\nTransportation, Gatot Dewa Broto, mentioned the total funding
\nrequired for the project was Rp 475 billion.<\/p>\n
"We will ask telecommunication service providers who already
\nhave well-established infrastructure to undertake the projects.
\nWe do not want them to spend too much of the budget on
\ninfrastructure. Most likely Telkom and PSN (Pacific Satelit
\nNusantara) will do the initial project this year," Tulus said.<\/p>\n
However, he also said that Indosat might be invited to take
\npart in the project this year, soon after they established their
\ninfrastructure.<\/p>\n
PT Telkom, a state-owned company, held monopoly on the
\ncountry's fixed-line telephone network for about 30 years until
\nlast year, when the government allowed Indosat to compete with
\nthe state company in the sector.<\/p>\n
PSN offers a GSM satellite service using the Garuda-1
\nsatellite technology.<\/p>\n
Tulus also said the government would oblige the telephone
\noperators to contribute 0.75 percent of their gross revenues to
\nhelp fund the project.<\/p>\n
"It is expected that the project would be finished in three
\nyears. However, with contributions from the telephone operators
\nwe expect the project could be completed even faster," he said.<\/p>\n
The project is part of the implementation of the Universal
\nService Obligation (USO) program aimed at providing phone
\nservices for all citizens.<\/p>\n
The USO was agreed upon during the International
\nTelecommunications Union (ITU) conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in
\n1995, when all countries were advised to provide their citizens
\nwith basic telecommunications facilities, such as telephone, fax
\nand telegram services.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the Asia Pacific Telecommunications (APT)
\norganization at its summit in Tokyo in 2000, issued the so-called
\nTokyo Declaration calling on all member countries to provide all
\nof their citizens with access to telecommunications by 2005.<\/p>\n
"Currently, Indonesia has a fixed-line penetration rate of 3.6
\npercent, meaning since our independence in 1945, we thus far can
\nonly provide 8 million fixed lines for a population of more than
\n220 million," Director General of the Directorate Post and
\nTelecommunications, Djamhari Sirat, said in his keynote speech
\nduring the conference.<\/p>\n
In comparison, there were 14.3 million cellular phone
\nsubscribers in Indonesia as of June this year since cellular
\nservice was first introduced in the 1980s, according to the
\nSecretary General of the Indonesian Cellular Telecommunications
\nAssociation (ATSI), Rudiantara.<\/p>\n
He estimated the number would increase to 17 million by the
\nend of this year.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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