Association wants one rate for local calls

Association wants one rate for local calls

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Telecommunication Kiosk
Owners called yesterday on the government to eliminate the
differences in local telephone rates to avoid confusion over
tariffs.

The association's general chairman Ahmad Daulay said yesterday
many telecommunication kiosk owners ended up charging their
customers a higher rate to avoid confusion caused by PT Telkom's
charges.

"There is no cheating in the telecommunication kiosks, there
is just misunderstanding," Daulay said, referring to a recent
allegation that many telecommunication kiosks cheated on their
customers.

He said Telkom divided the rates of local phone calls under
three classifications: local, local one and local two.

A local charge means the call is made from an area outside of
the metropolitan area to an area as far as 30 kilometers away, he
said.

A local one call is made from the metropolitan area to an area
up to 20 kilometers away, while local two is made to an area 20
to 30 kilometers away.

Only PT Telkom could determine the rate according to distance,
while equipment owned by the telecommunication kiosks could not
determine the vicinity of the call's destination, Daulay said.

To avoid losing money, kiosks would use the local two rate
classification for all local phone calls, he said.

"So it is not true that the kiosks overcharged their customers
by using illegal devices," he said.

City Police recently closed down two telecommunication kiosks
in Jakarta, alleging they had deceived their customers by using
illegal software which increased telephone rates.

According to the police, the kiosks used an illegal diskette
which multiplied rate tariffs, instead of using the diskette
provided by PT Telkom.

Weekly magazine Tiras quoted the head of the Jakarta office of
the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, Pudjo
Basuki, as saying that the law enforcement's conduct and reaction
to the alleged kiosks was without compunction and was wrongly
based.

"The allegation was not at all true," Pudjo was quoted as
saying.

Daulay dismissed the allegation that the kiosks were using
illegal software.

"As far as we know, all the telecommunication kiosks use the
same software provided by PT Telkom to determine phone tariffs,"
he said.

According to him, there are 3,000 association members across
the country. He said a kiosk with four telephone booths required
Rp 60 million (US$17,647) investment.

A kiosk usually makes between Rp 300,000 and Rp 400,000 daily,
he said. (das)