Govt to adopt DCS-1800 and PHS cellular systems
Govt to adopt DCS-1800 and PHS cellular systems
JAKARTA (JP): The government has decided to adopt the
Digital Cordless System (DCS-1800) and the Personal Handy-phone
Service (PHS) in Indonesia following successful trials here and
in Surabaya, East Java.
Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria
Purawidjaja said Wednesday evening that the pilot projects won
the esteem late last year of a special team evaluating the
systems.
"We are still in the process of making the open tender for the
Personal Communication Network (PCN), the next generation of
digital wireless telephone systems," he said after attending a
ceremony to award an ISO-9002 certificate to state-owned PT
Telkom's Batam division.
The government planned last year to adopt one or more cellular
mobile telecommunications systems, in addition to the three
existing systems run by seven operators. The three existing
systems are the global system for mobile communications, the
advanced mobile phone service (AMPS) and the Nordic mobile
telephone.
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 in Japan and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
technology from the United States.
The DCS-1800 pilot project was run here by PT Cellnet
Nusantara, while the PHS pilot project was run by PT Primasel.
Cellnet is controlled by Sudwikatmono and President Soeharto's
youngest daughter, Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih. Primasel is
owned by state-owned PT Inti, PT Indosat and PT Yamabri
Komunikasindo, a company controlled by the Foundation of Military
Headquarters.
"We are now in the prequalification process for the cellular
open tender," Djakaria said.
All the local AMPS operators -- Metrosel, Telekomindo and
Komselindo -- plan to upgrade their services into CDMA at least
by the middle of this year.
Inti director Jopie Manduapessy said the government was
expected to license Primasel by March to operate PHS cellular
telecommunications in Surabaya.
Djakaria said that Telkom's division in Batam had proved
itself as a world class telecommunications operator after winning
ISO 9002 certification.
The certificate was issued on Dec. 4 last year by SGS
International Services Indonesia.
The Batam division is overseen by Telkom's office in Sumatra.
PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara, a private firm, has taken over
Telkom's responsibility to develop telecommunications facilities
in Sumatra.
Pramindo, a joint venture between the local Astra Group and
France's Cable et Radio, a subsidiary of French Telecom, is one
of five private firms awarded 15-year concessions by PT Telkom to
operate existing lines and install two million new telephone
lines in five different zones in Indonesia. Pramindo is required
to install 516,487 new lines in Sumatra by 1999 and manage them
and existing lines until 2010.
In a related development, PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi
Indonesia, a private firm responsible for developing
telecommunications networks in Central Java, said yesterday it
had won a US$480 million loan from overseas banks.
The company stated the closing of the loan was finalized in
Singapore last month.
Mitra Global -- which groups state-owned PT Indosat, Telstra
of Australia, NTT, Itochu and Sumitomo of Japan and other
domestic companies -- is contracted to install at least 400,000
lines in Central Java.
Mitra Global's loan was extended by 16 international banks,
led by three arrangers: the Australia and New Zealand Banking
Group Limited, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Limited and Deutsche Bank
Asia Pacific (Singapore Banking Corporation). (icn)