Ericsson predicts another good year

JAKARTA: PT Ericsson Indonesia expects another good year in Indonesia, especially with growing demand for its code division multiple access (CDMA) telecom technology, despite the upcoming elections.

"I think our customers will continue to invest in Indonesia," said new company president Mitch Lewis, who replaced Ulf Mansson with effect from Jan. 1.

Last year alone, Telkom attracted 450,000 subscribers to its fixed wireless service, TelkomFlexi, which uses CDMA 2000 technology developed by Ericsson, he said. "We're pretty sure that number will rise significantly," he added.

Mitch welcomes the excitement this year with the upcoming elections. "Many mobile services providers have predicted a higher traffic in SMSs (cell phone text messages)," he said, and hopefully would add infrastructure in response to it.

The local company is a branch of Swedish parent Ericsson and has been in Indonesia for more than 96 years. Currently it employs some 300 employees throughout Indonesia and provides technology for telecom operators.

Mitch declined to state the target figure for this year. -- JP