Local police close 30 'illegal' VoIP operators<\/p>\n
Much. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Police and officials from the Ministry of Communications
\nraided 30 allegedly illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
\noperators on Friday -- a move that raised the hackles of industry
\nplayers.<\/p>\n
In a strong protest against the raids, the Indonesian Internet
\nService Providers' Association (APJII), and at least five
\noperators, threatened lawsuits against the Jakarta Police and the
\nministry's Jakarta office.<\/p>\n
Head of the Jakarta Police's special crimes division Adj. Sr.
\nComr. Ike Edwin claimed that the 30 VoIP operators had no
\nlicenses for their VoIP businesses, thus breaching Law No.
\n36\/1999 on Telecommunications.<\/p>\n
\"These VoIP operators have been inflicting losses on the state
\nof Rp 800 billion (US$86,000) per month,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"And some of them have been operating for the last two
\nyears ...\"<\/p>\n
APJII chairman Heru Nugroho said the association and the five
\nVoIP operators were serious about the lawsuit threat.<\/p>\n
He called the move \"excessive and without legal basis\".<\/p>\n
\"We have been informed by the government that the ban on
\nexisting operators will only start on June 1 (this year). Why did
\nthey do it now?,\" Heru complained.<\/p>\n
According to Heru, the police not only closed the VoIP service
\nof the 30 operators but also their other internet access
\nservices, thus technically blocking their customers from
\naccessing the internet.<\/p>\n
Heru said the 30 operators included 12 operators who had been
\ngranted licenses for \"internet telephony\" by the government.
\nReports have said that among the 12 VoIP operators were the
\nwidely known Melsanet, Primanet, Centrin, D-Net, Infoasia,
\nElganet, Pacific link, Central online, Bidnet and Telesindo.<\/p>\n
VoIP is a technology that allows the transmitting of ordinary
\ntelephone calls over the Internet using packet-linked routes.<\/p>\n
The controversy over VoIP started last year following the
\ngovernment's plans to allow only five operators enter the
\nbusiness, namely state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom
\nand cellular operator PT Satelindo, which is controlled by PT
\nIndosat, another state-owned telecommunications company, and two
\nprivate companies: PT Gaharu Sejahtera and PT Atlassat Solusindo.<\/p>\n
The government issued a decree last month putting the plan
\ninto effect.<\/p>\n
The existing operators objected to the decision, saying they
\nalready had licenses for \"Internet telephony, protocol talk,
\nprotocol Internet phone, Internet talk or Internet phone\". These
\nwere all other names for VoIP, Heru said.<\/p>\n
The government however maintained that the operators had no
\nright to enter the VoIP business as the word \"VoIP\" did not
\nappear in their licenses.<\/p>\n
The government said it would go ahead with the decree despite
\nthe strong opposition from various parties.<\/p>\n
VoIP can slash phone bills by up to 70 percent for
\ninternational calls compared to those made through Indosat.<\/p>\n
For example, a call to Hong Kong that would cost Rp 8,000
\nusing Indosat's international call service costs Rp 2,000 using
\nVoIP.<\/p>\n
This inspired Telkom and Indosat to add VoIP to their services
\ninstead of competing against it.<\/p>\n
Telkom recently launched its VoIP service, TelkomSave, and now
\nboasts monthly call traffic of 15 million minutes.<\/p>\n
Telkom signed an agreement last week with an America-based
\nVoIP operator that would improve the quality of phone calls made
\nto the U.S.<\/p>\n
Indosat, meanwhile, plans to launch its VoIP service by the
\nsecond quarter of this year, with VoIP installations already
\ncompleted in Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya and Batam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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