Full-traffic disrupts calls: Mobile firms

Full-traffic disrupts calls: Mobile firms

JAKARTA (JP): The country's leading cellular phone operators
brushed aside allegations that they have failed to increase their
network capacity, which has resulted in disturbances during rush
hour.

PT Telkomsel and PT Excelcomindo Pratama said over the weekend
that the troubles simply occurred due to "full-traffic", not
because of the network's inability to deal with the capacity.

They were responding to mounting complaints addressed to the
cellular companies as more and more people had encountered
difficulties in trying to communicate using their mobile phones,
especially during busy hours.

Telkomsel general manager for capacity management Agus P.
Simorangkir acknowledged the fact, but insisted they had nothing
to do with his company's network capacity.

"We have enough network capacity. In greater Jakarta alone,
where we have around one million customers, we're using more than
500 base transceiver stations (BST) to strengthen our frequency,"
Agus told The Jakarta Post.

With some 2.5 million customers, Telkomsel is the largest
cellular phone operator in the country, whose mobile phone users
are expected to reach 5.1 million this year.

"I can't speak for other operators, but all our complaints are
under control," Agus added.

"When people try to use their cellular phones simultaneously,
disturbance may occur. It's just the nature of mobile phones and
it is only temporary disruption.

"We just have to keep intensifying our already existing
network capacity to bolster the signals," Excelcomindo corporate
communications manager V. Elisawati, said on Saturday.

Excelcomindo holds around 20 percent of the domestic cellular
market, or close to a million customers.

Rudiantara, Chairman of the Indonesian Cellular Telephone
Association (ATSI) also agreed that disturbances during busy
hours was a typical characteristic of mobile phones.

"There is no way the mobile phone industry can fully provide
100 percent perfect facilities for mobile users," he told The
Post on Saturday.

"It has always been and will be like that for mobile phones."

Rudi said that in Jakarta alone there were at least three
sensitive spots during rush hour, namely Blok M, Kota and the
city's business district, Sudirman.

There are two digital cellular technologies available in the
country, namely the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and the
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which PT Telkomsel,
PT Satelindo and PT Excelcomindo Pratama operate under.

Currently, only PT Mobile Selular Indonesia (Mobisel) has
received an operating license for the CDMA system at 450
megahertz.

Other technologies include the analog Nordic Mobile Telephone
(NMT) and Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) implemented in
Indonesia by Telesera, Metrosel and Komselindo.

Komselindo had also begun its migration to the CDMA system,
and operates at 800 Megahertz.(10)