'I don't mind rate hike, I use office telephones'<\/p>\n
The government has allowed telephone operators PT Telekomunikasi
\nIndonesia (Telkom) and PT Indonesia Satellite Corporation
\n(Indosat) to raise local telephone rates by up to 28 percent, but
\nit has yet to set a date when the new rates would be introduced.
\nThe Jakarta Post talked to some residents about the issue.<\/p>\n
Feri, 32, is a civil servant and working at the database unit
\nat City Hall. He lives with his wife in Karawaci, Tangerang:<\/p>\n
The rate hike doesn't affect my household budget because I
\ndon't use telephones much and I don't have access to the internet
\nat home. I only use a computer when I'm at the office.<\/p>\n
I spend most of the day in the office so I make or receive
\nmost of my calls from there. When I get home, I'm fed up with
\nmaking phone calls. I only pay about Rp 100,000 (US$11.76) in
\nphone bills a month.<\/p>\n
But what has been troubling me is why the government has to
\npick the time around election campaigns to increase the phone
\nrates? I think it was meant to avoid possible protests as the
\npublic's attention was focused on the political campaigns.<\/p>\n
Or maybe it was engineered by adversaries of President
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri who wanted her to lose popularity and
\naffect the voting for her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
\n(PDI-P).<\/p>\n
Srinita, 43, is a housewife. She lives with her husband and
\ntheir two teenagers in Perdatam, South Jakarta:<\/p>\n
From what I know, the telecommunications service is
\nmonopolized by Telkom, which puts us in difficult situation any
\ntime they want to hike up the phone rates.<\/p>\n
I have two teenage girls and they seem to have grown handsets
\non their ears. They can talk over the phone with their friends
\nfor more than 15 minutes at a time. I've recently put a bar on
\nthe phone.<\/p>\n
The government should delay the plan to increase the phone
\nrates because all market prices have been increasing lately. It
\nwould be better if we had more than one telecommunications
\noperator, so we could have more competitive rates, right?<\/p>\n
--The Jakarta Post<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/i-dont-mind-rate-hike-i-use-office-telephones-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }