Government will not raise telephone rates next year: Minister<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will not raise telephone rates
\nnext year unless the country's economy shows a marked
\nimprovement, Minister of Communications Agum Gumelar said on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Agum said raising phone rates before telephone users had fully
\nregained their purchasing power would only elicit sharp criticism
\nfrom the public<\/p>\n
\"So there will not be a rate hike in telephone services next
\nyear,\" he told the House of Representatives Commission IV for
\ntelecommunications, transportation and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
According to data from state-owned telecommunications company
\nPT Telkom, 185,014 customers -- comprising 135,083 residential
\nsubscribers, 49,272 business subscribers and 659 social
\nsubscribers -- canceled their service in the first nine months of
\nthe year due to the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
This figure is an improvement over the 201,201 cancellations
\nin the same period last year.<\/p>\n
The data further stated that Telkom and its joint operation
\nagreement (KSO) contractors had a total of 5.69 million
\nsubscribers in the third quarter of the year, a 9.11 percent
\nincrease over the 5.22 million subscribers in the same period
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
The country's telephone rates -- including local and domestic
\nlong-distance charges, installation charges for fixed-line
\ntelephones, monthly subscription charges and peak and off-peak
\nhours charges -- are adjusted every year by the government based
\non the Price Cap Tariff Decree issued in October 1995.<\/p>\n
According to the decree, the government decides whether to
\nraise telephone rates and the amount of the rate increase based
\non recommendations from telecommunications operators, including
\nTelkom and cellular phone operators.<\/p>\n
For cellular phone services, the government only determines
\nrates for regular services, while cellular phone operators have
\nthe right to set rates for prepaid services.<\/p>\n
Director General of Post and Telecommunications Sasmito Dirdjo
\nalso said the government would not modify the existing
\narrangement for peak and off-peak hours, as recently suggested by
\nTelkom.<\/p>\n
\"There is no change either in the amount or structure of the
\nrate system for telephone services planned for next year. It may
\nbe changed only if economic conditions allow,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Telkom recently proposed a change in the peak and off-peak
\nhours arrangement for fixed-line telephones to avoid call
\ncongestion during peak hours.<\/p>\n
Under the proposal, telephone users would be required to pay a
\nsurcharge of Rp 25 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
The government, however, elected to maintain the existing 25
\npercent surcharge from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Indonesian Telecommunications Society (Mastel)
\nsuggested on Monday the government raise air-time charges for
\ncellular phone usage.<\/p>\n
Mastel chairman Sukarno Abdulrachman said the buying power of
\ncellular phone users had recovered much faster than that of
\nfixed-line users.<\/p>\n
\"The recovery is clearly seen in the recent steady growth in
\nthe sales of mobile phones and prepaid cards,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Telkom data, the number of active cellular phone
\nsubscribers jumped by 138.8 percent to 1.82 million in the first
\nnine months of 1999 from 762,602 in the corresponding period the
\nprevious year. (cst)<\/p>",
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