Elektrindo set to join telecoms supplier tenders
Elektrindo set to join telecoms supplier tenders
MALANG, East Java (JP): PT Elektrindo Nusantara is set to join
tenders in competition with foreign suppliers for government
projects needing digital telecommunications equipment.
"In addition to the three existing overseas suppliers, I
promise to discuss in a cabinet meeting the recognition of
Elektrindo as a new supplier for the country's telecommunications
development projects," Minister of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications Joop Ave said Saturday during a ceremony in
Turen regency, 10 kilometers Southeast of here.
During the ceremony, Elektrindo was awarded a certificate for
its digital central switching exchange. The company is a
subsidiary of the Bimantara Group, owned by Bambang Trihatmodjo,
a son of President Soeharto.
The exchange, called SENA, is the first to be designed
domestically. It has a capacity of 5,000 telephone lines.
To enhance the country's telecommunications development, in
1988 the government invited overseas suppliers to bid for a
multi-million-dollar digital-telephone project. In 1989, three
companies, Siemens of Germany, NEC of Japan and AT&T of the
United States, were selected for the project through a tender
overseen by the Agency for the Assessment and Application of
Technology chaired by State Minister of Research and Technology
B.J. Habibie.
The three overseas companies have since become the country's
long-standing suppliers of simple to operate telecommunications
networks.
The state-owned domestic telecommunications provider, PT
Telkom, which previously used 12 different kinds of central
switching exchanges, now uses the NEAX exchanges of NEC, the 5-
ESS of AT&T and the EWSD of Siemens.
In line with a government regulation requiring the
establishment of partnerships with domestic firms to supply
equipment to Telkom, NEC set up a partnership with the Humpuss
Group, which is run by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
Mandala Putra, while AT&T tied up with a company jointly owned by
the President's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and S.A.
Habibie, a younger brother of Minister Habibie.
According to Joop, Elektrindo, which developed the SENA
exchanges over several years, is now considered equal with the
three foreign suppliers.
"I understand that investments for telecommunications projects
are high. But I believe that Elektrindo will be able to increase
the capacity of its exchanges to 100,000 or 200,000 lines," Joop
said.
SENA is an expansion of STK-1000, which had a capacity of
1,000 telephone lines.
Elektrindo's president, Harry Kuntoro, said that the company,
which was set up in 1983, expects its revenue to increase from Rp
150 billion (US$63.5 million) last year to Rp 175 billion this
year.
He said the company set aside 5 percent of last year's revenue
for the continued research and development of SENA.
He said that SENA currently has local contents of less than 10
percent, with components procured from the state-owned electronic
manufacturer PT LEN.
Elektrindo offers SENA at less than $160 per installed-line
unit, as compared to about $250 for other products, he said.
(icn)