BRTI expected to tidy up messy telecom sector

BRTI expected to tidy up messy telecom sector

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The newly-established Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory
Body (BRTI) is expected to clean up the current mess that the
telecommunications industry finds itself in and issue new
regulations urgently needed to ensure fair competition and
protect consumers, experts said.

Although there are widespread doubts about the amount of
independence that BRTI actually has, the industry watchdog has
been given a mandate to take measures to protect the interest of
consumers. This could include ensuring transparency in the
calculations of phone charges or regulating the premium call
business of phone companies, Huzna Zahir, an officer with the
Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) stated.

"We've been receiving many complaints regarding the telecom
industry's services, especially about PT Telkom (state-owned
telecom company)," she told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

She added that more than half of the complaints came from
telephone customers who were charged for expensive premium calls
they claimed they did not make.

"If we file a complaint with Telkom, usually we get an answer
like 'according to our records, the calls were apparently dialed
from you number', and that according to them is the final word,"
she said. "I think customers need to be informed about how
Telkom, or any other company, make their price calculations and I
hope BRTI can address such problems."

According to a ministerial decree on BRTI issued by the
Ministry of Transportation last week, the body will regulate and
oversee telecommunications services and networks; issuing
licenses; settling disputes; and setting a benchmark for quality
of service.

Separately, deputy chairman of the Indonesian
Telecommunications Society (Mastel) Komarudin SK told the Post
that the urgent problems to be addressed by BRTI included
formulation of a regulation on universal service obligations
(USO) and to revise the regulation on interconnection fee
calculations.

"For example, we don't have a regulation to ensure the
implementation of USO, which is supposed to provide telecom
services in remote areas," he said. "Besides that, the revision
in interconnection fee calculations between phone operators is
also urgent to ensure fair competition."

Indonesian fixed-line telephone services have been controlled
for about 30 years solely by Telkom. It was only last year that
another Indonesian telecom giant PT Indosat was allowed to
compete with the state company.

However, the road to liberalization could be a bumpy one as
most of the regulations issued by the government -- Telkom's
owner -- are without teeth.

Reportedly, since the government opened the fixed-line
services to other companies, there have been some dubious
practices in the competition for customers.

For example, in October last year, Indosat's international
number 001 was blocked by an "anonymous hacker" and customers who
complained about the trouble to Telkom were told to use Telkom's
new international number 017 instead.

Such skullduggery eventually turned potential investors off.
Telstra, France Telecom and Deustche Telekom were just a few of
the investors who backed away from Indonesia due to corruption in
the legal system and a volatile investment climate.

Nevertheless, hopes and expectations are still high that BRTI
can help repair some of the damage. Players and stakeholders
expect BRTI to fulfill the urgent need to ensure fair
competition, lure more investment and protect customers.