Exhibition to promote CDMA kicks off
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Taking some time to visit a mobile technology exhibition during an office break was exciting for 24-year-old Danny, who was planning to get a new cellphone.
"I'm thinking of getting another CDMA mobile phone. I want to know which producer offers the best price and which provider gives the best service," said Danny, an account executive in a media firm.
Danny was one of thousands of visitors seen on Wednesday at the first day of the 2005 Indonesia Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Around 50 CDMA mobile handset manufacturers and telecommunication providers and associations are taking part in the three-day event that showcases the latest developments in the technology.
Public relation officer Novelita of PT Tri Warna, the organizer of the exhibition, said the event was aimed at informing and educating people about the technology, which operates at a lower frequency than the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM).
"Many people haven't realized the advantages of CDMA technology, which is growing more popular in business entities," said Novelita.
Fixed-wireless services, which uses CDMA technology, is a phone service with limited cellular mobility in a designated area that was first introduced to Indonesia two years ago.
The service offers rates almost equivalent to the rates of fixed-line services, and is much cheaper than GSM rates.
Fixed wireless began gaining ground in the industry last year, thanks in part to aggressive sales campaigns by operators -- free calls and free short message services during specific hours and days, which moved GSM operators to cut their rates and come up with their own attractive packages.
Operators of CDMA-based phone services include Telkom's Flexi, PT Bakrie Telecom with its Esia service, Fren from Mobile-8, PT Indosat with StarOne and Mandara Selular Indonesia with Neo_N.
Elsewhere, Novelita said that her company, together with Telkom Flexi, is targeting about 5,000 to 15,000 people per day to visit the exhibition, which is sponsored by Telkom, Indosat, Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson, Motorola, Huawei and Nokia.
Telkom Flexi's head of fixed wireless network division, Dian Rahmawan, said that his company expected the number of Telkom Flexi subscribers to increase to around four million from 1.43 million as of the end of last year.
"As of the first quarter of this year the number had already reached 2.55 million," he said.
Danny however, complained that the exhibition did not involve all telecommunications providers. "I was hoping to see other CDMA providers, such as Mobile-8 and Esia, so that I could make comparisons," he said. (001)