AT&T awarded contracts

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkom, the state-owned domestic telecommunication company, has awarded four contracts worth more than US$100 million to AT&T of the United States for the supply and installation of digital switching and transmission equipment, fiber optic cables and operational systems throughout Indonesia.

AT&T said in a statement made available here yesterday that the supply and installation of the facilities are part of the second phase of Telkom's STDI II direct dialing telecommunications project, the country's long-range development program to expand and modernize its telecommunications network.

PT AT&T's Network Systems Indonesia, the joint venture between AT&T and PT Citra Telekomunikasi of Indonesia, will manufacture, assemble and test telecommunication equipment to fulfill the four contracts, the statement said.

The statement said that the foreign currency portion of the project's second phase will be financed by the U.S. Exim Bank, which has allocated more than $600 million for the procurement of two million telephone lines and associated infrastructure over the next five years.(riz)