PT Telkom wary over telephone line target<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Telkom and its private partners
\nwill face difficulties in meeting the government's target to
\ninstall eight million telephone lines in the current Sixth Five-
\nYear Development Plan.<\/p>\n
Dadad Kustiwa, a director of Telkom, said yesterday meeting
\nthe new telephone target would be difficult in the years ahead as
\nthe fall in the rupiah's value would make the procurement of new
\ntelephone facilities more costly as the impact of the sharp fall
\nin the rupiah in the last four months.<\/p>\n
It would, therefore, be necessary for the government to review
\nthe target in the five year period to March 1999, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The current monetary condition is not favorable for
\ntelecommunications companies, including Telkom, as most
\ninvestment is still in dollars,\" he said, adding that the raw
\nmaterial for telecommunications projects had to be imported.<\/p>\n
Telkom and its private partners have installed less than four
\nmillion lines since the beginning of the five-year development
\nplan in April 1994.<\/p>\n
He said that five private firms were awarded 15-year
\nconcessions by Telkom to install 2.2 million telephone lines from
\nJanuary 1996 to March 1998, but had only installed 259,000 lines
\nthis year.<\/p>\n
\"The figure is far below the target set by the government,\"
\nDadad said as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Dadad said that from January 1996 to now, 1.1 million new
\nlines have been installed by the five private companies.<\/p>\n
In January 1996, Telkom handed over the management of its
\ntelecommunication networks in Sumatra, Kalimantan, West and
\nCentral Java, Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya and Nusa Tenggara to
\nfive companies under joint operation contracts.<\/p>\n
In addition to installing telephone lines, the five firms are
\nrequired to manage them and existing lines until 2010. Telkom is
\nto install, operate and manage at least three million lines in
\nGreater Jakarta and East Java.<\/p>\n
The five private firms, each joint ventures between domestic
\nand overseas operators, are PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara (Sumatra),
\nPT Ariawest International (West Java), PT Mitra Global
\nTelekomunikasi Indonesia (Central Java), PT Daya Mitra
\nTelekomunikasi Mitratel (Kalimantan) and PT Bukaka SingTel
\nInternational (Eastern Indonesia).<\/p>\n
The government last year raised its installation target of
\neight million telephone lines for the ongoing Sixth Five-Year
\nDevelopment Plan by 60 percent. The target includes 6.7 million
\nfixed-telephone lines and a network capacity for 1.3 million
\nmobile telephones.<\/p>\n
The previous target was only five million lines.<\/p>\n
Dadad said that Telkom did not have the authority to revise
\nthe telephone target as the figure had to be set by the Ministry
\nof Tourism, Post and Telecommunications.<\/p>\n
Telkom's coordinator of the KSO monitoring team, S.
\nWidyonarko, said earlier this month five private companies might
\nnot be able to reach their target for this year. But he said that
\nthey would speed up the construction of new telephone lines in
\nupcoming years to reach long-term targets.<\/p>\n
The sharp deprecation of the rupiah against the dollar
\nresulted in a slower growth for Telkom's net profit in the third
\nquarter of this year. The company's net profit rose less than 0.1
\npercent to Rp 1.126 trillion in the 1997 January to September
\nperiod from Rp 1.125 trillion last year. (icn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pt-telkom-wary-over-telephone-line-target-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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