Govt to update telecoms policy
Govt to update telecoms policy
JAKARTA (JP): The government will continue to update its
telecommunication policy as part of its commitment to
liberalizing the information technology market, a minister said
Friday.
Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave said
in Bandung, West Java, the updating of telecommunication
regulations would provide stronger legal foundations and clear
guidelines for the operation of telecommunications-related
companies.
"A parameter is, for example, needed in determining the ideal
number telecommunications operators, interfaces, interconnection
tariffs and traffic volumes," he said after inaugurating a PT
Telkom laboratory center.
The government plans to submit its latest reports on
Indonesia's telecommunications industry and policies to the World
Trade Organization's (WTO) telecommunications groups in Gevena on
Jan. 30.
The meeting will be part of the latest round of multilateral
negotiations to try to wrap up an international accord on
liberalizing the world's telecommunications markets.
Fifty nations will be represented at the negotiations and they
have a month to reach an agreement before the Feb. 15. deadline.
Meanwhile speaking separately Telkom's financial director
Harry Supangkat said Telkom would reinvest its revenue from an
increase in local call prices.
Early this year the government raised local telephone calls
4.54 percent from Rp 110 (US$0.04) to Rp 115 a pulse (every 1.5,
two or three minutes, depending on distances and time periods).
"Telkom will use the revenue from the local call increase to
invest in other telecommunications projects," he said.
He refused to give further details.
Telkom's net profit from January 1996 to September 1996 was
$US481 million, up 28.91 percent from the same period the
previous year.
The company's operating income rose to $664 million over the
same period, up 15.8 percent, while call traffic rose 28.1
percent to 25.93 billion pulses over the nine months from 20.24
billion in the same period last year. (icn)