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)