Govt undecided over plan for phone rate hike
Govt undecided over plan for phone rate hike
JAKARTA (JP): The government is still undecided over the new
schedule for raising phone rates after it was forced to delay its
rate hike plan last month.
"If it were up to us (the government), we would want to
implement the rate hike as soon as possible.
"But, we can't do that before finishing consultations with all
concerned parties, including the House of Representatives and
consumers," Director General of Posts and Telecommunications at
the Ministry of Communications Djamhari Sirat said during a
discussion on phone rates.
The government had allowed state telecommunications company PT
Telkom to raise phone rates by an average of 21.67 percent on
June 10, but it canceled the plan following protests from the
public who said that the rate increases proposed by Telkom could
have raised phone bills by up to 167.86 percent.
Under the rate increases, Telkom changes its current multiple
rate system for Jakarta into a so-termed single rate system.
Rates under the multiple rate system are determined by the
duration of the call, the time of the call and the distance
between the caller and recipient. Under the proposed single rate
system, the rate is determined only by the duration of the call.
The House of Representatives has urged the government to
review the proposed rate structure.
Djamhari said that the government's special rates team had now
come up with two alternatives.
First, rates for all parts of the country would be increased
by between 5.34 percent and 28.9 percent, with rates for long-
distance calls increased by 20.9 percent, local calls by 28.7
percent, monthly standing charges by 28.9 percent and rates for
residential areas by 5.34 percent.
The second alternative would be to implement a uniform rate
hike of 21.67 percent for local calls, long distance calls, and
the monthly standing charge.
Djamhari said that although the government's team had come up
with the two alternatives, it had yet to decide which alternative
to implement.
"We are making them (the alternatives) known to the public,
for instance, through discussions like these," he said.
During the discussion, senior executive of the Indonesian
Consumers' Foundation (YLKI) Zoemrotin K.S. called on the
government to cancel its plan to raise telephone rates, stating
that it would greatly burden the public that is still struggling
with the economic crisis.
She disagreed with the government's reason that the rate
increase was necessary in order to attract foreign investors into
the country's telecoms industry.
"No matter how high phone rates are increased, investors will
not come as long as social and economic conditions are still in a
mess," she said.(tnt)