Digital system coming on stream in Indonesia
Digital system coming on stream in Indonesia
BATAM ISLAND, Riau (JP): The rapid development of digital
cellular telecommunications in Indonesia is expected to edge out
the increasingly out-dated analog system.
"The utilization of the analog system in cellular radio
telecommunications services in Indonesia will be over and the
country will continue to develop the digital system," State
Minister of Research and technology B. J. Habibie said after
inaugurating a project for the Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) cellular telecommunications here over the
weekend.
The project, valued at Rp 12 billion (US$5.52 million), has
been established by the state-owned domestic telecommunications
company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) in Batam and Bintan
islands, Riau.
Habibie said that GSM, one of the main leaders in digital
cellular mobile telephone systems in the world, has global
network access, and that the outstation is very simple when
operated internationally.
"The quality of GSM, which is derived from Europe, is better
than the analog system," he said, adding that the digital system
will be applied nationally.
There are currently three analog modes operated in Indonesia,
including the advanced mobile phone system (AMPS-800) run by PT
Elektrindo Nusantara in Jakarta, West Java and North Sumatra; by
PT Centralindo Pancasakti in Central and East Java; and by PT
Telekomindo Prima Bhakti in Bali, South Sulawesi and Kalimantan.
PT Rajasa Hasanah Perkasa runs Nordic mobile telephones (NMT-450)
in Jakarta and Bandung, West Java, while the other mode is
Telkom's total access communications system, whose utilization is
decreasing.
Precise
Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria
Purawidjaja said recently that the government has picked GSM as
the precise mode for the development of digital cellular
telecommunications in the country. There are two other digital
technologies in telecommunications, including the American
Digital Cellular (ADC) of the United States and Personal Digital
Cellular (PDC) of Japan.
Besides Telkom, its subsidiary PT Satelindo also operates GSM
telecommunications. Another subsidiary of Telkom, PT Ratelindo,
runs fixed-cellular digital radio telephones in Jakarta and West
Java.
Telkom's president Setyanto P. Santosa said that his company
will establish another subsidiary next year to operate GSM
cellular telecommunications nationally.
"After our success in operating the GSM project in Riau, we
will operate a similar service in several other parts of the
country," he said, adding that the new subsidiary will be set up
next year.
He said Telkom will likely cooperate with another state
company or private sector firms in establishing the subsidiary.
(icn)