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)