Alcatel supplies Telkom

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): France's Alcatel Telecom will keep supplying equipment to the projects of state-owned PT Telkom despite the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, Telkom's vice president D. Amarudien said yesterday.

Amarudien said the economic turmoil had not disrupted Telkom's projects in cooperation with Alcatel, although Alcatel reportedly said the crisis had prompted it to delay its supply of telecommunication equipment to Indonesia.

"Our projects with Alcatel still continue," Amarudien said.

Telkom is building several telecommunication projects in cooperation with Alcatel in Sumatra and the eastern part of Indonesia.

Some of the ongoing projects include a wireless local loop project in Jakarta and East Java's Surabaya, a micro digital wave project in Pagal, Sulawesi, and a fiber optic communication system along the Jakarta-Surabaya north coast.

The projects are financed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. (43/das)