Cellphone bridge lets travelers top up

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Fina looked around the vast plaza in front of St. Stephen's Church in the heart of Vienna. Peering at the Caucasian and Asian faces swirling around her, she frantically searched for the friends she was traveling with.

A tap on her shoulder brought fear, quickly followed by relief. "Man, I'm so glad you found me," said the 23-year-old Indonesian student said to her friend.

As they walked away to the subway station, Fina took out her mobile phone. "I'm out of pulsa (phone credit) and I couldn't send a SMS (short message) to you guys.

"And I didn't know the way back to the hotel," she said with a wide grin.

Cellular technology is a savior for many Indonesians who lose one another as they travel through exciting and unfamiliar foreign countries.

Those using pre-paid cards like Fina, however, are at the mercy of people back home to top up their phone credit when it runs out.

However, two months from now, customers of Indonesia's largest mobile phone operator PT Telkomsel will be able to walk into shops abroad and top-up credit.

Telkomsel has announced that the service will be available in major cities in seven Asian and Pacific countries -- India, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Australia -- which means that European travelers like Fina will still have to rely on their wits if their credit runs dry.

The company joined seven cellular operators in these countries to form the Bridge Mobile Alliance late last year, which has recently launched three services, Bridge Roaming, Bridge Concierge, and Bridge Prepaid.

With Bridge Roaming, users will be able to call the same customer service and voice mail numbers that they are used to in Indonesia in fellow Bridge countries.

Users of Telkomsel's pre-paid cards simPATI and Kartu As in Singapore need only to dial 116 for an information service.

Bridge Concierge provides on-site roaming assistance, changing cards if they are broken, while Bridge Prepaid allows customers to buy credit abroad -- the value of the credit amounts is yet to be decided -- using local currencies.

In Indonesia, the new Bridge services will first be available in Jakarta, Bali, Medan and Surabaya.

"After these cities, we will add more major cities," Telkomsel president director Kiskenda Suriahardja said.

However, consumers are advised to beware, these extra services do not come with lower prices -- yet.

Yola, who has used Telkomsel's post-paid service for the last four years, says her phone bills usually double or triple when she goes abroad.

SMSs alone, she says, cost her big bucks -- a trip to a book store to buy things for her boyfriend or family could see at least 20 texts flying home and back.

"They ask a lot of questions," Yola said. "And I'm used to using the SMS service as freely as I do in Jakarta."

An SMS from a Halo Card here costs Rp 250 (less than 3 U.S. cents), while one sent using the same card from Singapore or Malaysia can cost around Rp 2,000.

"My trick is to buy a local pre-paid card whenever I go abroad," she said.

"If you convert the SMS cost to rupiah, it will come at around Rp 500."

Telkomsel spokesman Suryo said the alliance would consider giving discounts to member countries in the future.

"It's possible to give special tariffs," he said, also through an SMS.

Bridge Mobile Alliance

No. Cellular Operator Country
1. Telkomsel Indonesia
2. CSL Hong Kong
3. Airtel India
4. Globe Telecom Philippines
5. Maxis Malaysia
6. SingTel Mobile Singapore
7. Taiwan Mobile Taiwan
8. SingTel Optus Australia