Tight screening helps cellular operators cut overdue bills<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The rate of overdue subscriber bills at local
\ncellular operators has declined significantly, with an industry
\nexecutive crediting the development on more exacting methods to
\nprune out unsuitable applicants for services.<\/p>\n
The director of commerce of PT Telkomsel, Hasnul Suhaimi, said
\non Monday that overdue bills at his company decreased to about 7
\npercent from around 11 percent last year. The industry average is
\nnow below 10 percent from about 15 percent last year.<\/p>\n
He attributed much of the decline to the company's tighter
\nassessment of prospective customers, particularly of applicants
\nfor Telkomsel's postpaid billing card product, Halo.<\/p>\n
\"We have been more careful in giving approval to new
\napplicants by having our team check on the applicant to make sure
\nthat the person is really qualified to accept the obligations as
\na customer.\"<\/p>\n
Fewer acceptances are being made now, he said after the
\nhandover of a Telkomsel donation of about Rp 200 million to
\nUnicef.<\/p>\n
Hasnul said Telkomsel's monthly card sales declined to 25,000
\ncards from an average 35,000 before the tighter assessment was
\nintroduced.<\/p>\n
Telkomsel now serves about 350,000 Halo customers and earns
\naverage monthly revenue per subscriber of about Rp 200,000.<\/p>\n
Stricter application procedures also are being applied by the
\nother two GSM operators in the country, PT Satelindo Palapa
\nIndonesia (Satelindo) and PT Excelcomindo Pratama.<\/p>\n
An executive of PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo)
\nacknowledged recently the company was sometimes forced to use the
\nservices of debt collectors to handle overdue bills.<\/p>\n
\"This strategy worked well. But we only use them (the debt
\ncollectors) if the customer did not respond to our initial
\nreminder calls and written warnings,\" he said.<\/p>\n
There are about 180,000 active Satelindo postpaid billing card
\nsubscribers.<\/p>\n
Satelindo reduced the level of unpaid bills to about 5 percent
\nthis year from around 10 percent in 1998, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The level was even higher at between 30 percent and 45
\npercent in mid-1997. We managed to bring it down to below 15
\npercent by mid-1998,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Separately, corporate communications manager of PT
\nExcelcomindo Pratama, Ventura Elisawati, said the rate of overdue
\nbills to her company now stood at below 2.5 percent of
\nExcelcomindo's total revenue.<\/p>\n
\"The level stood at two digits in the middle of last year but
\nit has gradually declined to single digits early this year due to
\nour extensive antidebt programs.\"<\/p>\n
She said the company began cleaning up bad bills beginning in
\nlate 1997 by expelling delinquent customers, but some could not
\nbe traced because they provided false identities or addresses.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo now serves about 60,000 XL customers.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Cellular Telephone Association reported early
\nlast year that cellular operators lost about Rp 200 billion due
\nto unpaid bills.<\/p>\n
According to a reliable source in the industry, the level of
\nbad debts for all operators in the industry averages about 15
\npercent.<\/p>\n
\"It was above 20 percent last year. The level is in the double
\ndigits because it also includes the high level of bad debts
\nsuffered by non-GSM operators,\" the source added.(cst)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tight-screening-helps-cellular-operators-cut-overdue-bills-1447893297",
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