Beeper operators get new numbers

Beeper operators get new numbers

JAKARTA (JP): The government later this month will allow beeper providers operating in the city to use five-digit telephone numbers.

The Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications' director of telecommunications, Eman Sachroni Sumantri, said yesterday that five-digit telephone numbers will begin with 131-XX.

"Because all radio paging operators in Jakarta will use five- digit telephone numbers, three-digit telephone numbers will no longer be available for commercial arrangements," he said after witnessing an agreement between the Multipage beeper operator and the Antara news agency.

Three beeper operators in Jakarta currently use three-digit telephone numbers -- Skytel of PT SkyTelindo uses 131, Starko of PT Motorollain Corporation 135 and Santika of PT Santika Wira Yudha 138. The other operators in the city have regular telephone numbers of seven digits.

"The three-digit phone numbers have been set by the state- owned PT Telkom, while the government set last year technical guidelines on the country's telecommunications development, which rule that phone numbers are issued by the government, not by Telkom," Eman said.

Yesterday, Antara signed an agreement with PT Raya Pertiwi Semesta, the Multipage radio paging operator which will provide its subscribers with brief information taken from Indonesia Market Quote (IMQ), a service monitoring trading developments on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. IMQ, launched on March 27, 1996, was developed by Antara in cooperation with the Australian Associated Press.

Antara's general manager, Handjojo Nitimihardjo, said that IMQ targets brokers, bankers, executives from public companies, insurers and individual investors as its customers.

Meanwhile, an executive from Raya Pertiwi Semesta, Muljo Rahardjo, said that 27,000 people subscribe to his beeper service.

Multipage, established in 1992, operates in Jakarta, Surabaya, Cilegon in West Java and Manado in North Sulawesi.

Raya Pertiwi Semesta is 30 percent owned by PT Lyman Investindo, a subsidiary of Satya Djaya Raya group, 30 percent by NTT International Corporation of Japan and 40 percent by four individual parties. (icn)