Government sets new phone charges

Government sets new phone charges

JAKARTA (JP): The government announced yesterday reductions of
up to 56 percent on long distance calls and the installation of new
telephone lines, and a 10 percent rise in the rate for city calls as
of Jan. 1.

Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave told a
press conference at his office here yesterday that the new
installation charges will be based on three classifications:
business, housing and social facilities.

"The installation fee for each telephone line in Jakarta, for
instance, will be lowered from Rp 1,000,000 (US$456) to Rp 900,000
($411) for businesses, to Rp 700,000 for households and government
and military offices and to Rp 560,000 ($256) for social facilities,"
he said.

He cited another example, saying that in Bandung, West Java, the
installation charge will be lowered from Rp 750,000 ($342) to Rp
500,000 ($228) for businesses. And the monthly fee for telephones for
social welfare institutions in that city will be lowered by 25
percent.

He also said that the installation charge for a cellular mobile
telephone will be reduced from Rp 1,000,000 to
Rp 300,000 ($137), while the air-time charge for such a telephone
will be cut by 21 percent from Rp 400 to Rp 330 per minute.

Joop said the new tariff structure for long distance calls will
be based on three zones instead of the five zones applied by the
state-owned domestic telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi
Indonesia (Telkom) since the early 1980s.

Under the new arrangements, long distance calls made within the
zone of more than 1,000 kilometers will be lowered by up to 25
percent. For instance, the charge for calls from here to Jayapura in
Irian Jaya will be decreased by 25 percent, from Rp 500 to Rp 400 per
pulse at night.

Secretary General of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications
Jonathan Parapak said that the charge on local calls will be raised
from Rp 100 per pulse at present to Rp 110 early next month.

Joop also said yesterday that by the end of this year, Telkom
will have established 3.54 million telephone lines, with 1.24 million
of them not yet properly marketed. (icn)