Govt opens bidding on telecom tender
Govt opens bidding on telecom tender
JAKARTA (JP): The government yesterday opened the registration
for the tender of the construction of two million telephone lines
which will be assigned to private firms during this Sixth Five
Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period.
Spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications Sjamsuddin Tanuatmadja said yesterday that the
tender, open until March 21 next year, is only open to the 12
consortia which passed the pre-qualification.
He said the consortia can obtain bidding forms at the ministry
up until Dec. 1.
The government selected 12 out of the 30 consortia that
participated in the pre-qualification.
The government expects to have five million telephone lines
installed within the Repelita VI period, of which two million
lines will be offered to private companies. The state-owned
domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom plans to establish
the other three million lines with a total investment of Rp 15
trillion (US$6.85 billion).
All of the 12 consortia, which were selected by an inter-
ministerial team comprising of officials of various government
institutions and experts, include both foreign and domestic
companies and cooperatives. The government expects foreign
companies to contribute high technology and equity.
The companies involved in the 12 consortia include Telstra of
Australia, Astratel, France Telecom, Elektrindo Nusantara, Cable
& Wireless of Britain, Bukaka, Singapore Telecom, Telekomindo,
Nynex of the United States, Krisna Duta, Korea Telecom, Kartika
Eka Paksi, Sinar Mas, Bundespost of Germany, Nusa Telekomindo,
GTE of the United States, Centralindo Pancasakti, Bell Canada,
Maharani Teletama, British Columbia Telecom, New Zealand Telecom,
Aditaruna Arif Pratama, US Sprint, Intidaya, Sistelindo Mitra and
Malaysia Telecom
Top officials at the ministry were evasive when asked how many
consortia will be selected to install the two million telephone
lines, but sources at Telkom said that there will likely be only
five winners in the tender.(icn)