Four telecom consortia sign joint venture deals

Four telecom consortia sign joint venture deals

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): Executives from the four consortia
which won contracts to build some two million telephone lines in
various parts of Indonesia signed joint venture agreements
yesterday which will enable them to start construction early next
year.

The signing, witnessed by Minister of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications Joop Ave and president of the state-owned
domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom Setyanto P.
Santosa, took place during the closing ceremony of the
international three-day telecommunications summit at the Bandung
Institute of Technology.

Winners of the joint-operation contracts, which were announced
last June, consist of the Pramindo Ikat consortium (to establish
460,000 lines in Sumatra), the Tiga-A consortium (500,000 lines
in West Java), Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (440,000
lines in Central Java), Daya Mitra Malindo (237,000 lines in
Kalimantan) and Bukaka Singtel International (403,000 lines in
Eastern Indonesia).

Only four consortia, however, joined the signing yesterday
because members of the Bukaka Singtel International consortium,
which was represented yesterday by Allen Lew of Singapore Telecom
International and Jusuf Kalla of Bukaka Telekomindo
International, had already signed their joint venture agreement
in Singapore on Jan. 18.

Signatories of the joint venture from Pramindo Ikat were
Thomas Subijanto, the president of PT Astratel Nusantara;
Mukarno, the chairman of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunication's Cooperative; Nuryana Prasetyo, the president
of PT Intertel Pratama Media; and L. Miallet, the CEO of France
Telecom's France Cables et Radio.

From Tiga-A, the signatories were Gatot S. Kharmadji, the
representative of PT Artimas Kencana Murni; Edwin Soeryadjaya,
the representative of PT Aria Bahtera Internusa; John Troy, the
executive director of Asian Infrastructure Fund; and Richard J.
Callahan, the president of US West International.

Signatories from Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia were
D. Siregar, the president of Widya Duta Informindo; Safwan
Natanagara, the executive vice president of Indosat; Ross Abbott,
the CEO of Telstra in Indonesia; Kazuhiro Yaginuma, the
representative of NTT in Indonesia; Lukman Sugito, the chairman
of Kopnatel; Ardhim Ichwan, the chairman of Kopindosat; Eddy
Erwando, the representative of Kokarindo; and Hendarso
Hadiparmono, the chairman of PT Krida Salindo Sentosa.

From Daya Mitra Malindo, the signatories were Syed Mustaffa,
of Telecom Malaysia Bhd.; Benny Nasution, of PT Intidaya
Sistelindomitra; Hasim Sumiana, of PT Alatief Nusakarya Corp.;
Wong Peng Koon, of TM Communications (UK) Ltd.; Ronald Seah, of
American International Assurance Co. Ltd.; and Rachmat Badruddin,
of Koptuindo.

The five projects are part of the government's program to
install five million telephone lines by the end of the Sixth
Five-Year Development Plan, which will end in March 1999.

Joint operation contracts, which will be signed between the
five consortia and the state-owned domestic telecommunications
company PT Telkom later this year, will guarantee Telkom an
estimated total revenue of Rp 13.98 trillion (US$6.2 billion)
from initial investor payments, guaranteed annual minimum
revenues and 30 percent of distributable operation revenues
throughout the operational period of 15 years. (pwn)