Third GSM provider launches operations<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In the shadow of its existing rivals, the last
\nof the three license holders for Global System for Mobile
\nCommunications (GSM), PT Excelcomindo Pratama, launched yesterday
\nits cellular telephone service.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo's president, Julius S. Djohan, said the company
\ninvested this year about US$350 million to install some 200 base
\ntransceiver stations in Jakarta and Bandung, West Java.<\/p>\n
"Today's launching will mark Excelcomindo's operations in
\nJakarta and Bandung. We will enter Surabaya in East Java next
\nmonth," he said, adding that the company would increase its
\ninvestment to $720 million by 1998.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo's service was launched yesterday by Minister of
\nTourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave.<\/p>\n
The company is a joint-venture company owned by Nynex Corp. of
\nthe United States and PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti, the major
\nIndonesian shareholder.<\/p>\n
Telekomindo is owned by PT Rajawali Wira Bhakti Utama, a
\nsubsidiary of the Rajawali Group, controlled by businessman Peter
\nSondakh. State-owned PT Telkom has a minor stake in Telekomindo,
\nwhich currently runs the Advanced Mobile Phone System.<\/p>\n
Other shareholders of Excelcomindo include Japanese trading
\nfirm Mitsui, the Asian Infrastructure Fund and several local
\ninvestors, including PT Santana Telekomindo, Yayasan Kartika Eka
\nPaksi and Yayasan Tridaya.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo, set up in 1995, will face stiff competition from
\nPT Satelindo and PT Telkomsel, the two GSM operators presently
\ncontrolling the market in the country, particularly in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
There are currently some 400,000 cellular phone users in
\nIndonesia. Some 270,000 are GSM subscribers, while the remainder
\nare users of the Advanced Mobile Phone System run by three
\noperators and the Nordic Mobile Telephone run by one provider.<\/p>\n
Djohan said yesterday that out of the current GSM users, 65
\npercent live in Jakarta and Bandung, 20 percent in Surabaya and
\n15 percent in other areas of the country.<\/p>\n
He said that Excelcomindo will expand to cover major cities in
\nJava and Bali by the first quarter of 1997 and Sumatra in the
\nsecond half of next year.<\/p>\n
"We expect to attract 30,000 subscribers by the end of this
\nyear," he said.<\/p>\n
According to Djohan, Excelcomindo, which procures equipment
\nfrom Swedish giant LM Ericsson AB and Siemens of Germany, plans a
\n90 percent outdoor coverage in Jakarta. (icn)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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