Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications regrets VoIP raids

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Police raids on allegedly illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operators on Friday have not only upset industry players, but also the Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications which supervises the industry.

Gatot S. Dewabroto, spokesman for the Ministry of Communication's directorate, called the raids arbitrary and in contravention of prevailing regulations.

"We want to clarify that the raids were neither at our initiative nor our policy.

"We were really shocked to hear about the raids," Gatot said.

The Jakarta Police, along with officials from the Jakarta provincial office of post and telecommunications, raided 30 VoIPs operators to force them to shut down their services. The police launched the raids following a request from the Jakarta provincial office of post and telecommunications, which say the 30 VoIP operators were running illegal operations.

Among the 30 raided companies were 12 operators who have been awarded licenses by the government for the telephony business -- which, according to many experts, is another name for VoIP.

In a strong protest against the actions, the Indonesian Service Providers' Association (APJII) along with five operators threatened lawsuits against the police and the directorate's Jakarta office.

"We are now in a vulnerable and difficult situation as the operators plan to file lawsuits against us," Gatot said.

According to Gatot, although a decree has been issued for the VoIP operators to stop their services, the decree does not come into force until June 1 -- which means the operators are still allowed to continue their operations until that day.

Under the decree, only five operators are licensed to run VoIP businesses, that is state-owned companies PT Telkom, PT Indosat and Indosat's cellular subsidiary PT Satelindo, and private companies PT Gaharu Sejahtera and PT Atlassat Solusindo.

Gatot blasted the Jakarta office of post and telecommunications for initiating and taking part in the raid, saying under governmental Decree No. 25/2001 on VoIP, ISP and the Internet business, the right to raid or probe illegal operators or ask police to do so lie with the directorate rather than a provincial office. The provincial office's rights are limited to probing or cracking down on small-time operators such as those running illegal radio stations or illegally offering postal services.

Formerly, all departments, including the Ministry of Communications, had regional offices in all the provinces which worked under the direct supervision of the departments.

Following the implementation of the Autonomy Law on Jan. 1, 2001, all regional offices have been put under the supervision of the provincial administration and thus no longer receive orders from the ministry.

Gatot admitted that there was no coordination between the Jakarta office of post and telecommunications and the directorate before the former launched the raids on the VoIP operators together with the police.

He, however, maintained that the Jakarta office of post and telecommunications had overstepped its authority.

"They (the Jakarta office of post and telecommunications) have insulted our authority," Gatot said.

Separately, the chief of the special crimes division of the Jakarta Police, Adj. Sr. Comr. Ike Edwin, said the initiative for the raids came from the Jakarta office of post and telecommunications, which the police presumed had coordinated with the directorate.

He maintained that the police did the right thing in raiding the operators.

"The raids were based on Law No. 39/1999 on telecommunications. The directorate should carefully read the law before commenting.

"I also regret that there was a lack of coordination between the agencies. They need to do some introspection," he said.