Five foreign giants enter RI telecoms
JAKARTA (JP): Foreign companies will operate domestic telecommunication services throughout Indonesia, except for Greater Jakarta and East Java, under 15-year concessions as of January 1996.
The state-owned domestic telecommunications service, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), signed joint operation contracts yesterday with five Indonesian-foreign joint ventures, which will install a total of 2,256,487 telephone lines and operate them along with existing lines.
The joint venture partners include international telecommunications carriers such as Telstra, West Inc., France Telecom, NTT, TM Communications and Singapore Telecom.
"The additional capital, technology and expertise to be brought in by the foreign operators will help Telkom to become a world-class operator," noted Telkom's president Setyanto P. Santosa yesterday.
Among the joint ventures are PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara, which will install 516,487 lines in Sumatra, PT Aria West International, which will be responsible for installing 500,000 lines in West Java, and PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia, which will install 400,000 lines in Central Java.
The other two are PT Daya Mitra Malindo, which will install 237,000 lines in Kalimantan, and PT Bukaka Sing Tel which will be responsible for installing 403,000 lines in the country's eastern region covering Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya and Nusa Tenggara.
The five projects are part of the government's program to install five million telephone lines within the current Sixth Five-Year Development Program which will end in March, 1999.
Three million of the total will be installed in the greater Jakarta area and East Java, which will remain under the management and operation of Telkom.
The contracts are estimated to bring a total revenue of Rp 15.25 trillion (approximately US$6.79 billion) for Telkom within the next 15 years.
The signing of the contracts yesterday was seen by analysts here as important to support the success of Telkom's initial public offerings in New York and London, as well as in Jakarta next month.
Telkom expects to raise $2.8 billion from the triple offerings.
Setyanto said yesterday that a total of 138 parties took part last year in the preliminary selection for the contracts.
"The government then selected 12 consortia for the final tender, but only 11 of them took part," he said.
Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave reminded the five operators yesterday of their obligation to use local products for their projects.
Ownership
Informed sources said yesterday that several consortia have changed the composition of their shareholders because many overseas firms have expressed interest in joining the projects.
Mitra Global, for instance, was previously owned by PT Widya Duta (15 percent), PT Indosat (30 percent), Telstra of Australia (20 percent), NTT of Japan (10 percent), PT Bahana Bina (five percent), Kopnatel (five percent), Kopindosat (2.5 percent), Kokarindo (2.5 percent) and Krida Salindo Santosa foundation (10 percent). The company is now owned by Widya Duta (20 percent), Indosat (30 percent), Telstra (20 percent), NTT (15 percent), Kokarindo (2.5 percent), Krida (10 percent), Itochu (1,25 percent) and Sumitomo (1.25 percent).
Daya Mitra has also changed its ownership structure. TM Communications from Hong Kong has joined the company with a 10 percent ownership, which diluted Intidaya's ownership to 30 percent from 40 percent, while the stakes of Malaysia Telecom and ALatief Corp were slightly increased.
Pramindo, which consists of Astratel of Astra Group and Cable et Radio, a subsidiary of France Telecom, has not yet reached any deal with prospective partners that include Marubeni Corp. and Nichimen of Japan, the International Finance Corp., an affiliate of the World Bank, and Commonwealth Development Corp. from Britain.
Jonathan L. Parapak, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, said yesterday that the joint ventures could invite additional shareholders with prior approval of the government. (icn)