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)