Cooperation accords in satellite business

Cooperation accords in satellite business

COCOA BEACH, Florida (JP): Private companies interested in
doing business with Indonesia's telecommunications satellite
industry will have the chance to form cooperation agreements
(KSOs) with state-owned PT Telkom.

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria
Purawidjaja told reporters here yesterday that the government has
successfully introduced and applied the KSO programs between
Telkom, the domestic telecommunications operator, and five
private firms for the installation of two million fixed-telephone
lines during the current Sixth Five Year Development Plan
(Repelita VI) period.

"There should be numerous KSO possibilities in the satellite
business," he said after a press conference for the launching of
the Palapa-C1 satellite from Cape Canaveral.

Telkom signed KSO contracts with five joint venture companies
last October for the installation and management of telephone
networks in Indonesia, outside of the greater Jakarta area and
East Java. Telkom expects to gain a total of Rp 15 trillion
(US$6.4 billion) in revenues from the 15-year KSO contracts.

The director general did not give any further information on
KSO possibilities in the satellite business.

According Djakaria, telecommunication infrastructures are
partly comprised of satellites and telephone networks, which do
not necessarily have to be operated by the state-owned
telecommunication companies, Telkom and PT Indosat.

Indonesia is hoping to secure at least 24 slots for its
satellites, including eight of the Palapa-B generation (four of
which have been launched), four from the Palapa-C generation (one
is to be launched today, the other one in April), four Palapa
Pacific satellites (one in operation), four Garuda satellites
(the first will be launched in 1998) and four Indostar satellites
(the first will be launched by Arianespace of France in
1997/1998).

There are currently four satellite operators in Indonesia
including Telkom, which owns and operates the Palapa-B series.
Telkom has announced that it expected to have the Palapa-B5 in
orbit by 1999.

The other three -- each of which is partly owned by either
Telkom or Indosat or by both -- are private firms, comprised of
PT Satelindo, the owner and operator of three Palapa-C
satellites; PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), which acquired
Palapa-B satellites from Telkom and operates them as Palapa
Pacific satellites; and PT Mediacitra Indostar, which will
operate direct broadcasting satellites called Indostar.

Satelindo is 45 percent owned by PT Bimagraha Telekomindo -- a
joint venture between the Bimantara Group, which is controlled by
President Soeharto's son Bambang Trihatmodjo -- and the Artha
Graha Group, which is owned by Tomy Winata, a prominent
businessman with close links to the Armed Forces. The other
shareholders are DeTeMobil of Germany (25 percent), Telkom (22.5
percent) and Indosat (7.5 percent).

PSN is 30-percent owned by PT Elektrindo Nusantara, a
Bimantara-affiliated firm, 40 percent by Telkom, 10 percent by
the company's executives, 10 percent by Hughes of the United
States and 10 percent by Telesat of Canada.

Meanwhile, Mediacitra's owners include Bambang Trihatmodjo and
his elder sister Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana as well as PT Seruni, a
subsidiary of Amcol Group. Telkom will have a 25-percent stake in
Mediacitra by 2008. (icn)