Govt to raise USO fee to 1% from 0.75% to boost fixed-line development<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Moving to speed up the development of rural communication
\ninfrastructure, the government is set to increase the universal
\nservice obligation (USO) fee to 1 percent next year, a ministry
\nofficial says.<\/p>\n
Currently, under Government Regulation No. 28\/2005, all
\ntelephone operators must set aside 0.75 percent of their annual
\nrevenue for the state's rural telephone program called USO.<\/p>\n
The regulation is effective as of July and applicable
\nretroactively from the beginning of 2005.<\/p>\n
\"We will need around Rp 5 trillion to provide communication
\naccess to 43,000 underdeveloped villages nationwide. With the
\ncurrent 0.75 percent it might take eight years to do so,\" said
\nMinistry of Communications and Information director general of
\nPost and Telecommunications Basuki Yusuf Iskandar on Monday.<\/p>\n
With the increase, it is likely that all villages, numbering
\nmore than 65,000 across the country, will be able to enjoy fixed
\nline communication in the next five years.<\/p>\n
Under the current scheme, the state would collect Rp 2.5
\ntrillion in five years.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, apart from the private-participation scheme, the
\ngovernment has set aside Rp 88.5 billion from the state budget to
\nset up telephone connections in 5,351 villages throughout the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
Next year, it targets to provide 27,000 connections in 10,000
\nvillages.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is among the countries with the lowest telephone
\ndensity in Asia. In 2004, only 8.8 million of the country's 220
\nmillion people had access to fixed-line phones, prompting a more
\nrapid growth in cellular phone users.<\/p>\n
In comparison, Malaysia reported in 2003 that 25 percent of
\nits population had fixed-line telephones.<\/p>\n
Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil
\nsigned a memorandum of understanding on Monday on the USO program
\nwith the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister of the
\nEmpowerment of Underdeveloped Areas. The latter ministries are to
\nprovide data on which villages shall be prioritized.<\/p>\n
The USO program in Indonesia uses satellite-based Very Small
\nAperture Terminal (VSAT), Internet Protocol based connections,
\nPortable Fixed Satellite or Fixed Wireless Access, as many of the
\nislands in the archipelago cannot be reached by fixed cables.<\/p>\n
The government has appointed four operators to implement the
\nrural telephone program, namely PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara
\n(PSN), PT Citra Sari Makmur (CSM), PT Telkom and PT Mandara
\nSelular Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Within the USO program, once the villages have access to
\nfixed-line communications, they will also be upgraded with
\nInternet connection.<\/p>\n
According to data from the International Telecommunications
\nUnion (ITU), the telephone penetration rate in Indonesia stands
\nat 8 percent on average for both fixed lines and cellular phones,
\nwhile the computer penetration rate is about 4 percent.<\/p>",
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