Cellular phones the in-style accessory

By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): "Beep! Beep!" A cellular phone near you starts to ring and after a long second of searching and stumbling someone stands up and leaves the meeting room.

A meeting room? Not always. Cellular phones, popularly called hand phones here, are "cool but common thing" among Jakartans these days.

From shopping mall corridors to elementary school hallways, cell phones have become a mandatory accessory for those who want to be "modern and connected".

"In Jakarta, traffic jams are regular, while a working pay phone is rare to find. A cellular phone is the only way to communicate now," said Denny, a young consultant.

Young people like Denny were initially not the main target for cellular phone companies, which in the last decade focused on those with a high income and more prominent position.

Today, there are 1.6 million cellular phone subscribers in Indonesia, a figure which beats many projections.

These subscribers are served by seven cellular operators with three different systems: GSM, AMPS and NMT 450. The most common system widely accessible now is GSM, a digital system more common in Asia and Europe.

Highly active and mobile, technology savvy individuals like Dennis set a high priority in staying in contact with their business and loved ones. Many even prefer to give their colleagues only their cellular phone number, a trend that developed in countries that are more highly wired.

Young people however, are no longer alone in riding the wired society. Cellular phones are now also common among students and housewives.

"Well my phone looks nice, and I can call my servants to ask them what they need from the supermarket" said Sari, a housewife, while cradling her shiny four million rupiah Nokia 8810 phone in a shopping mall.

Sari is considering buying another cell phone for her junior high school daughter for security reasons.

"With all those riots, I feel more comfortable if I can contact my daughter anytime I want, especially with the decreasing price of cell phones," said Sari.

She quickly added that she would buy a cheaper model to avoid her daughter's school friends feeling envious.

In many ways, the popularity of cellular phones in Indonesia was helped by the introduction of prepaid cards, released in late November 1997. The service attracts many clients, who other wise could not afford the operator's fee.

"Prepaid cards are more suitable for market conditions at this time. Our customer can buy vouchers whenever they have money without worrying to pay bills at the end of the month," said Tina, a public relations officer from PT Telkomsel.

Right now, Telkomsel claims about 41 percent of the GSM service market share in Indonesia. Their service is divided into two components: Simpati Nusantara, a prepaid calling card and Kartu Halo, a postpaid card.

With in fact a similar coverage to Halo, Simpati Nusantara is the more popular of the two. In Telkomsel's case, the coverage extends to 400 cities in Indonesia without a roaming fee and is supported by 11,000 transceiver stations.

After purchasing the introductory package, a subscriber can buy refill vouchers ranging in price from Rp 100,000 to Rp 300,000.

In addition to Telkomsel, other operators are also offering a similar service. Satelindo introduced the Mentari card, while Exelcomindo also issued the ProXL card.

To make it easy for customers, operators also sell refill vouchers through ATM machines and banks. Simpati is available through BCA and BNI ATM machines, ProXL is available through BCA and Lippobank machines, and Mentari can be purchased through Arta Graha Bank and BCA machines.

The recent high demand for introductory packages has caused their price to sky rocket. While the official price for prepaid introductory packages range from Rp 150,000 to Rp 200,000 at Roxy Mas, many vendors sell them for Rp 400,000.

"We only have a limited supply," said Jennifer, a vendor at Roxy shopping mall.

She added that people are even willing to pay as much as Rp 800,000 to buy a phone number which they believe will bring them good luck.

"Phone numbers that are easy to remember and contain more than two eights are sought after, especially by Chinese buyers," Jennifer added.

A source from the industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed the ongoing practice of calling card distributors to raise the current price of the introductory package.

Operators like Telkomsel are aware of the practice, yet claim they are unable to stop it.

"It is mainly up to the market to decide the end price," said Tina. She added that some of the numbers were auctioned at higher prices because they were easy to memorize.

In reality, the phone card business is considered the main profit center for most cellular phone retailers.

"The market for handsets is so competitive now that we can only make up to Rp 100,000 per set. We make it up through the sale of phone cards," said Jennifer.

At the other end of the industry, the demand for prepaid calling cards is beyond the coping capacity of cellular operators. Despite the high demand, the industry can not increase the price of the card due to government regulations. One of the industry's strategies is to attract customers to subscribe to postpaid services by lowering the monthly fee.

Prepaid calling cards, indeed, are not for everyone.

"I bought a prepaid calling card before, but it ran out a little bit too fast," said Denny. He now chooses postpaid calling cards after having to buy prepaid vouchers on a weekly basis.

Denny complained however, that although cell phones have become a common consumer good, many people have yet to learn how to use them properly.

"A cell phone rang with a cute theme from a popular song while I was watching a movie at 21 Cineplex recently. What the owner did however, was not cute at all. He continued his conversation despite our protest," said Denny.

It seems that despite the sophisticated phone and modern lifestyle they embrace, Jakartans are still yet to embrace cell phone etiquette.