GSM operators prepare massive network expansion
GSM operators prepare massive network expansion
JAKARTA (JP): The country's three telecommunications operators
of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) have planed
major projects to further expand their services in various
provinces.
In a hearing with members of the House of Representatives
yesterday, top executives of the three GSM operators, PT Satelit
Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo), PT Telekomunikasi Selular
(Telkomsel) and PT Telekomindo, shared the same view that they
should focus on better services in facing fiercer competition in
the digital cellular telecommunications markets.
As the government controls both the tariffs for telephone
calls and installation fee, cellular telecommunications operators
in Indonesia can compete only in services.
Satelindo, partly owned by German DeTeMobil, is preparing the
expansion of its GSM operations in Sumatra, Sulawesi and
Kalimantan.
"In Sumatra, we plan to enter Medan, Palembang, Padang and
Tanjungkarang. Our GSM will cover Pontianak, Balikpapan,
Samarinda and Bontang in Kalimantan as well as Ujungpandang and
Manado in Sulawesi," Satelindo's President Iwa Sewaka said.
Satelindo currently has 101,602 subscribers in Jakarta and
several big cities in West, Central and East Java. The company
has invested a Rp 143.64 billion (US$61.8 million) in installing
236 base transceiver stations (BTS) in 134 locations.
Satelindo's cellular director Saleh Gunawan said yesterday
that his company would invest Rp 200 billion ($86.1 million) to
install some 200 new BTS this year.
"We will double the number of our subscribers by the end of
this year," he said, adding that roaming services with overseas
GSM operators would total 40 in 1996.
Roaming services allow GSM customers to use local cellular
telephones from foreign countries to call operators in Indonesia
and vice versa.
Satelindo, which also operates the Palapa-C1 satellite and
international calls, used equipment and technology from the
French telecommunications company, Alcatel, in developing its GSM
networks.
Meanwhile, Telkomsel's President Koesmarihati Sugondo told the
hearing yesterday that her company would invest Rp 450 billion
($193.7 billion) this year for GSM expansion in about 17
locations in the country.
The new locations include the greater Jakarta area, Banda
Aceh, Lampung and Palembang in Sumatra, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan
and Samarinda in Kalimantan, Ujungpandang and Manado in Sulawesi
and Ambon in Maluku.
"Telkomsel will also cover later this year the Jakarta-Bandung
areas via Cianjur and Cikampek, the Jakarta-Merak route, Bogor-
Sukabumi-Cianjur route, Cikampek-Cirebon-Semarang-Tuban-Surabaya
route, Bandung-Yogyakarta and Yogyakarta-Surabaya routes."
Koesmarihati said that Telkomsel, which invested Rp 260
billion last year in the project, currently operates in 114
cities in 12 provinces with 34,500 subscribers.
Telkomsel's director of commerce Rudiantara said that the
company targets to net a total of 120,000 subscribers this year.
He said that Telkomsel's roaming services would include
Southeast Asian countries, Australia and a number of European
nations this year.
Telkomsel, partly owned by the Dutch PTT Telecom, has now
roaming utilization services with GSM operators in foreign
countries such as Hong Kong, Australia, France, Australia, the
Philippines, Malaysia, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and the
Netherlands.
The country's third GSM operator, PT Telekomindo, has set up a
new company called PT Excelcomindo to run a digital mobile
cellular telephone system. Excelcomindo is partly owned by the
American Nynex and Japanese Mitsui.
Telekomindo's Vice President Peter Djatmiko said that
Excelcomindo would start its service in September in Java and
Bali.
"We have allocated about $300 million for the GSM project,
including the installation of some 150 BTS. We hope to register
100,000 subscribers by the end of this year," he said.
Telekomindo, currently operating the analog advanced mobile
phone system, is the third and the last operator awarded by the
government to operate GSM nationwide.
Peter said that in addition to Excelcomindo which will run
GSM, Telekomindo will set up later this year a new company called
PT Telekomindo Selular Raya to operate the advanced mobile phone
system lines.
Telekomindo currently operates radio trunking
telecommunications, a system in which users speak to each other
via radio handsets on protected channels, and radio paging
services through its subsidiaries, PT Mobilkom and PT Buana
Bintang Bayu. (icn)