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)