Apartments' phone fees to be reviewed

Apartments' phone fees to be reviewed

JAKARTA (JP): The government will review telephone line
installation fees in apartments following complaints about extra
charges.

State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said yesterday
that people living in apartments should pay normal installation
charges unless they were running businesses.

"I will take this information (that there are extra charges)
for an input," he said after inspecting a telecommunications
kiosk at a Benhil II cheap-apartment complex on Jl. Penjernihan
in Central Jakarta yesterday.

He said tenants in apartments should pay normal tariffs as
other residents did.

State-owned PT Telkom bases telephone line installation fees
on three categories: business, homes (including government
offices and the Armed Forces) and social institutions (such as
foundations and orphanages).

To install a telephone line, permanent subscribers in Jakarta
and Surabaya (East Java) have to pay Rp 800,000 (business), Rp
590,000 (homes) and Rp 410,000 (social). Meanwhile, non-permanent
subscribers in the two cities have to pay Rp 400,000 (business),
Rp 295,000 (homes) and Rp 205,000 (social).

Apartment owners have so far asked buyers to pay Rp 800,000
for any new telephone line installation.

"Whether we apply for a new line via the apartment owners or
at any Telkom outlet, we are charged at the business rate,"
Robert, a resident of the Graha Cempaka Mas apartments in Central
Jakarta said.

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria
Purawidjaja said yesterday the government would look into the
issue.

Meanwhile, Telkom's general manager for Greater Jakarta,
Guntur Siregar, said Telkom would charge home rates for
subscribers directly using Telkom's outlet.

"Usually apartment owners are charged at business rates for
any new lines as they are running a property business."

Guntur said people usually had to pay business rates if the
original owner of the apartment had installed their telephone
line before they bought their apartment. (icn)