Govt delays open tender for cellular project
JAKARTA (JP): The government has decided to delay the open tender of the Personal Communication Network (PCN), the next generation of digital wireless telephone systems, to pick up a number of new cellular operators.
A telecommunications analyst, who requested anonymity, told The Jakarta Post Tuesday that the tender was originally scheduled for December 1996 after the first delay in July.
"The government has been inconsistent in the planned tender, which will be the first cellular tender ever held in the country," the analyst said.
She said the government, particularly the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, had won support from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) to install more telephone lines for the ongoing Sixth Five-Year Development Plan period to end in March 1999.
Bappenas supported last November the new installation target of eight million telephone lines for the ongoing Sixth Five-Year Development Plan which includes 6.7 million fixed-telephone lines and a network capacity for 1.3 million mobile telephones.
The government originally targeted to install five million lines including some 600,000 cellular lines.
Telecommunications development in Indonesia has grown significantly since the establishment of joint operation projects between state-owned PT Telkom and five private firms to install some 2.2 million fixed-telephone lines in the country's five regions.
The demand for cellular phones continues to increase partly due to a drop in cellular phone retail prices.
A director of cellular provider PT Telkomsel, Garuda Sugardo, said that the new target of 1.3 million cellular telephones was too conservative.
"There will likely be some 1.9 million cellular subscribers by 1999 due to the brisk demand in the market," he said.
The government planned to adopt one or more cellular mobile telecommunications systems in addition to the three cellular systems currently run by seven operators.
The three current systems are the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications, the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) and the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT-450).
The digital GSM, the most recent system introduced in the country, is operated by Telkomsel, PT Satelindo and PT Excelcomindo. The analog AMPS system introduced earlier is operated by PT Metrosel Nusantara, PT Telekomindo and PT Komselindo. The NMT-450, the analog service primarily installed in vehicles, is run by PT Mobisel. There is also the Cordless Telephone (CT-2) system in Indonesia which is run by PT Telepoint.
The next generation of digital wireless telephone PCN systems include the Personal Communications System (PCS-1900) and the Digital Cordless System (DCS-1800) from Europe, the Digital Enhance Cordless Telephone, the Personal Handy-phone Service (PHS) developed by Japan, and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology from the United States.
The government is likely to adopt CDMA, PHS and DCS-1800.
All of the AMPS operators; Metrosel, Telekomindo and Komselindo, have planned to improve their services into CDMA at least by the middle of this year.
Despite the planned tender, the government has indicated that such improvements also need approval.
PT Primasel and PT Cellnet Nusantara have also run trial operations of PHS and DCS-1800, respectively. Primasel is owned by state-owned PT Inti and PT Indosat and other parties, while Cellnet is owned by businesspeople Sudwikatmono and President Soeharto's youngest daughter, Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih.
A number of small-scale businesspeople grouped in the Indonesian Association of Telecommunications Kiosks have proposed to develop Personal Communications System Indonesia (PCS- Indonesia). The group has selected Yogyakarta as the site for the trial operation of the low-charge PCS-Indonesia. (icn)