ACeS to expand to Taiwan and India

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta-based company ACeS International Limited, a regional satellite-based mobile phone operator, will expand its services to India and Taiwan later this year.

Company spokesperson Wanudharia H. said that ACeS had appointed two companies, ACeS Taiwan in Taiwan and Shyam ACeS in India, as National Service Providers (NSP).

"Gateways are being prepared by both companies while operations are targeted to commence in the middle of this year," she said.

ACeS operates a geo-stationary satellite system dubbed Garuda to cover most of the Asian region stretching from India in the west to Indochina in the east and from China in the north to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the south.

The ACeS system is based on a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. Meanwhile, the Garuda satellite was developed by the U.S. aerospace, defense and telecommunications giant Lockheed Martin.

Late last year, ACeS service was launched by PT Pasifik Satellite Nusantara (PSN) in Indonesia and by Philippines Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) in the Philippines. Both companies are ACeS' NSPs. Each NSP in every country have their own brand for ACeS service. It is called Byru in Indonesia and SMARTACeS in the Philippines.

Jasmine International of Thailand will launch an ACeS service in Thailand next month.

PSN, which is listed on the Nasdaq, PLDT and Jasmine are ACeS shareholders. Another shareholder at ACeS is Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications of the U.S.

With operations covering the most important regions in Asia, any person with an ACeS handheld device will be able to directly communicate with another person carrying a similar device within the satellite coverage through ground station gateways and public switching telephone networks, or with any person with a cellular or normal fixed telephone anywhere in the world.

The project is claimed to be simpler and cheaper than other satellite-based cellular telecommunications projects which operate globally like Globalstar, or the now defunct Iridium.

Remember that beyond the existing and planned NSPs, the ACeS service can already be used throughout the area of coverage.

Uncovered areas

Ria said that the cellular industry in Asia, particularly GSM, will continue growing.

"However, it will be more concentrated in highly populated areas which is not ACeS' main target. We target the GSM market, but as a complimentary service. There won't be any direct competition between ACeS and GSM operators, as we focus on non- covered areas, that is why we rely upon satellite technology. It will cost a lot for any GSM operators to invest in a scattered demand market area."

She reiterated that ACeS' role in the cellular industry was to be the provider for those non-covered areas.

"With the right affordable retail price, we believe that we can provide a reasonable answer to this need," she said.

Ria said that ACeS had invested some US$700 million for a satellite, a ground station and three gateways.

She said that ACeS offered benefits to the cellular industry.

"Basically, ACeS offers to extend communication coverage for GSM subscribers, and there will be smooth and transferable roaming between ACeS and GSM 900. Currently we have commercial operations with three GSM operators: PT Satelindo of Indonesia, Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCCW) of Hong Kong and Hutchinson of Hong Kong," she said.

The only weakness of a satellite-based mobile phone system is that it must be used outdoors as there should be a direct link between the antenna of the terminals and satellite/gateway signals.

Tariff

To some extent, satellite-based mobile phone systems also offer interesting tariffs for users.

For example, if you subscribe to Byru and travel to China, someone who calls you from Indonesia will spend only Rp 3,400 per minute. This happens because Byru has an Indonesian number whose prefix is 62868xxx.

As a Byru user, you don't have to pay anything when receiving calls wherever you are in Indonesia. And, you have to pay only Rp 1,500 per minute when you receive a call and you are outside Indonesia.

Yes, distance becomes insignificant in satellite-based mobile phone systems.

The tariff of ACeS is very competitive compared to the cost of roaming using the traditional GSM system.

As a subscriber of a GSM operator in Indonesia, you have to pay a much more expensive roaming fee and international call charge when receiving calls and you are outside Indonesia.

However, this is only one positive and advantageous example. Tariffs of satellite-based mobile phone systems are not always less expensive compared to BTS-based services.

According to Ria, tariffs are still the most saleable thing in the market nowadays. "But, we believe that in the future, the competition will be based on value-added services."

She said that over 5000 ACeS SIM Cards had been sold in Indonesia in two months since their launch last September.

"In the Philippines, there have been some 200 SIM cards sold in a month. We believe the market is prospective," she said.

Presently, ACeS SIM cards can only be used with the Ericsson R-190 terminal.

"We plan to cooperate with other handset manufacturers. It is still an ongoing process. We believe that all major telecommunication providers offer deals, to varying degrees, on all except mobile wider coverage. -- I. Christianto