Almost 1.4m phone access line units installed in three years
Almost 1.4m phone access line units installed in three years
JAKARTA (JP): Five contractors from state telecommunications
operator PT Telkom announced on Saturday the installment of
1,371,548 access line units in the last three years.
Contractors' spokesman D. Siregar, said the achievement
exceeded the three-year target of 1,268,000 lines agreed with PT
Telkom in January, 1996.
"This achievement underlines our commitment to fulfill our
responsibilities, despite mounting challenges brought about by
the prolonged economic crisis," he said during a workshop in
Cipanas, West Java.
The five contractors -- PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara, PT
Ariawest International, PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia
(MGTI), PT Cable and Wireless Mitratel and PT Bukaka Singtel
International -- installed the telephone lines under joint
operation schemes with PT Telkom.
Siregar said the five companies invested about US$1.56 billion
during the three years. About $567 million of the total
investment is cash equity, he said.
Siregar said Rp 5.03 trillion or 45 percent of total revenue
collected across five Telkom partners' units, was paid directly
to Telkom, while the partners received 20 percent of earnings.
The five private contracts, awarded in January 1996, were to
install and manage two million fixed lines in West Java
(Ariawest), Central Java (MGTI), Sumatra (Pramindo), Kalimantan
(Daya Mitra) and areas in eastern Indonesia (Bukaka Singtel). The
management contracts terminate in 2010.
Siregar said the number of subscribers in the contractors'
regions currently totaled 2.57 million subscribers, meaning that
over one million subscribers have obtained telephone connections
in the last three years.
He said that beside fulfilling the construction target for
telephone lines, the five partners have been active implementing
various technology transfers through training, education,
research and development programs.
The partners have endeavored to implement appropriate
technologies in order to improve operational efficiency, which in
turn would lead to benefits for consumers, Siregar said.
The partners have also fulfilled their Universal Service
Obligation in various villages within their regions, expanding
the availability of telephone facilities.
Siregar said the memorandum stipulated that their service
obligation would be realized if either five percent of capital
expenditure was set aside to meet the obligation or 50 percent of
the villages obtained access to telecommunications facilities.
"Partners has been successful to date in fulfilling government
objectives for developing the Indonesian telecommunications
industry. However, due to the current ongoing crisis, certain
changes need to occur to be able to meet future development
needs," he said.
Some observers have complained that the joint operation
projects were not satisfactory, resulting in Telkom inefficiency.
(gis)