Buana, S'pore firm seek deal in int'l paging service
Buana, S'pore firm seek deal in int'l paging service
JAKARTA (JP): PT Buana Bintangbayu and Singapore Telecom are
negotiating to provide international roaming services for users
of their radio paging facilities.
Buana Bintangbayu president Idris Sugeng said that, in the
negotiations, the two companies are seeking an agreement under
which their customers will be able to "roam", that is, use their
pagers in each other's country.
Idris was quoted on Saturday by the Bisnis Indonesia daily as
saying that operational cooperation between Singapore Telecom and
Buana Bintangbayu -- which operates the Telepage nationwide
paging service -- is technically possible, since the companies
used adjacent wavelengths for their services, around 280
megahertz.
He said the frequency level of partner operators was an
important aspect in such cooperation because the use of distant
wavelengths would make integrated roaming services more difficult
to achieve.
Buana Bintangbayu is a joint venture between PT Telekomindo
Primabhakti (75 percent) and Mitsui Co. Ltd. of Japan (25
percent). It was set up with an initial investment of Rp 8
billion (US$3.47 million).
Idris said that operators of national paging facilities must
now provide better service to cope with increasing competition.
One of the strategies that could be used to succeed amid tougher
competition was to join hands with foreign partners.
He said Buana Bintangbayu also planned to expand its business
to include other foreign partners, such as firms based in
Malaysia and Thailand.
The Indonesian government has so far given permission to only
two national companies to operate Southeast Asia-wide paging
services. The two firms are PT Indolink First Pacific, operating
the Indolink paging service, and PT Telematrixindo, which
operates the Easycall service.
Licenses
Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
Joop Ave said last week that the government would provide 90 new
licenses for operators of local paging services.
He said the licenses would be given only to companies based
outside Jakarta.
Idris said that Buana Bintangbayu currently operates paging
services in seven cities -- Jakarta, Semarang, Surabaya,
Yogyakarta, Malang, Bandung and Medan -- and aims to have 25,000
subscribers by the end of 1996. By 1998, the company aims to have
50,000 subscribers, he added.
In the next three years, the firm's operations will be
expanded to 20 more major cities across Indonesia, he said.
Idris said that, while Buana Bintangbayu has a license to
conduct nationwide operations, the company divides its working
areas into four: Greater Jakarta and Bandung; Semarang in Central
Java and Yogyakarta; Surabaya and Malang, both in East Java; and
Medan and surrounding areas in North Sumatra. (pwn)