Govt backs radio phone business

Govt backs radio phone business

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to introduce new tariff structures for radio trunking telecommunications systems to make them more attractive to users.

Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave acknowledged on Thursday that telecommunications through the radio trunking system are not that popular because the fees are less attractive than those of other telecommunications systems, including the mobile cellular telephone system.

"The government will evaluate the current tariff structures of the radio trunking telecommunications systems to see whether revising them will help increase the number of subscribers," he told a symposium on the business of radio trunking telecommunications.

There are currently three firms operating radio phone services in Indonesia -- PT Mobilkom Telekomindo, PT Jastrindo Dinamika and PT Maesa Nusatama. Two other firms, PT Prasarana Lokapratama and PT Indocall Rintis Buana, have been awarded preliminary licenses and will start operating next year.

The government plans to license seven firms to run radio phone services.

Joop did not specify the form of the new tariff structures.

Air-time charges on radio trunking systems are lower than the charges on mobile cellular telephones because the infrastructures for radio trunking service require a smaller investment than cellular phone networks.

Like cellular phones, radio phones are also able to transmit data and connect to household telephones. However they have fewer features than cellular phones and so do not provide such good value for money for individuals.

They are therefore usually subscribed to only by companies or institutions, and not by individuals.

Jastrindo sets a connection fee of Rp 200,000 (US$85.5), air- time traffic charges of Rp 100,000 ($42.7) per month and a frequency utilization fee of Rp 105,000 ($41.9) per year.

An executive of the United States-based Motorola International, Ronnie Sebastian, said that the business of radio phones is likely to improve if their systems are able to connect with public switching telephone networks (PSTN).

If the radio phone system is compatible with PSTN, any fixed telephones at households or offices can receive or call radio trunking terminals, he said.

"It depends on the government, whether or not the system will be linked with PSTN," he said. (icn)