Cellular subscribers to grow 40% in 2003
Cellular subscribers to grow 40% in 2003
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The number of cellular subscribers by the end of this year is
expected to have grown by about 43 percent, or about five
million, from 11.4 million as of the end of last year.
"Out of the total cellular market, operator Telkomsel holds a
share of about 52 percent, Excelcomindo 16 percent and Satelindo
along with Indosat 31 percent," Rudiantara, the chairman of
Indonesian Cellular Phone Provider Association (ATSI) told The
Jakarta Post on Friday.
The remaining one percent was held by smaller operators like
Mobisel, Telesera, Natrindo and Komselindo, which operated non-
GSM (global system for mobile communication) services, he
explained.
He said that ATSI expected the market to grow by four to five
million subscribers per annum for the next three years.
Last year the cellular operators saw more healthy growth.
"At the end of 2001, our subscribers amounted to 6.6 million
people. The number grew by 4.8 million to 11.4 million at the end
of 2002," he added. Thus, last year's growth in the number of
cellular subscribers reached a sparkling 72 percent.
Rudiantara explained that the expected decline in growth was
not because of weakening consumer purchasing power nor because of
market saturation.
"Consumer demand is out there and still going strong. However,
the operators cannot meet the demand because additional supplies
will not offer high profitability. New subscribers generally come
from the middle to lower income brackets, who spend only about Rp
50,000 (US$6) per month on communication," he said.
He said that operators needed to find a cheaper technology to
serve such subscribers. "That's our challenge."
Another challenge was how to lower investment costs per
subscriber. "The current investment cost for one new subscriber
is about $200. At the beginning of our operation in 1995, the
cost reached $1,000," he said.
"So, the lower the investment cost the better we will be able
to serve as many subscribers as possible."