Telkom asked to heed new transmission ruling<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Post and Telecommunications
\nSasmito Dirdjo said on Wednesday that PT Telkom no longer held
\nthe right to require cellular operators to use its transmission
\nnetworks for domestic long distance (SLJJ) service.<\/p>\n
Sasmito said cellular operators were only required to use the
\nstate telecommunications company's fixed line transmission
\nnetworks when serving local calls.<\/p>\n
Mobile phone operators are now free to use their own
\ntransmission facilities when they service domestic long-distance
\ncalls.<\/p>\n
According to a decree issued by the Minister of Communications
\nin May this year, cellular operators can use their own Mobile
\nSwitching Center (MSC) instead of Telkom's fixed line trunk
\nexchange terminals when serving SLJJ calls.<\/p>\n
But cellular phone operators complain that Telkom ignores the
\nruling and still requires them to use the transmission facilities
\nfor a fee.<\/p>\n
"We are aware that the minister's decree will cause Telkom to
\nlose its opportunity to gain interconnection revenues from
\ncellular operators," Sasmito said.<\/p>\n
The loss would not be significant and would be offset by
\nTelkom's continuing right to collect the interconnection fee for
\nlocal calls and international calls made by cellular and other
\ntelecommunications providers, Sasmito added.<\/p>\n
Telkom received Rp 572.77 billion (US$88 million) in 1997 and
\nRp 555.51 billion in 1998 in interconnection revenues.<\/p>\n
Cellular operators claim that Telkom still charged them an
\ninterconnection fee of Rp 55 per minute for local or SLJJ calls.<\/p>\n
An executive of the Association of Cellular Telecommunication
\nIndonesia (ATSI), Rudiantara, said cellular operators expected
\nTelkom to comply with the regulation.<\/p>\n
He said Telkom should not be worried about losing the entire
\ninterconnection revenues from the cellular sector because
\ncellular operators would still utilize Telkom's network for local
\ncalls.<\/p>\n
"We will still use Telkom's network for local calls and pay
\nfor the interconnection fee, because we don't have the
\ninfrastructure to support transmission to customers which use
\nTelkom's fixed line telephones."<\/p>\n
He added that cellular operators might also use Telkom's
\nservices while transmitting SLJJ or international calls involving
\nusers of Telkom's fixed line telephones.<\/p>\n
Eman Soemantri, the head of the telecommunications and
\ninformation supervision department, estimated Telkom would lose
\nabout 15 percent of its total SLJJ interconnection revenues.<\/p>\n
There are currently seven cellular phone network providers in
\nthe country, serving three systems: the Advanced Mobile Phone
\nSystem (AMPS), the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
\nand the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system. They serve about1.4
\nmillion active cellular phone users. (cst)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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