GSM services to expand

JAKARTA (JP): PT Excelcomindo Pratama, one of the three operators of the global system for mobile communication (GSM) in Indonesia, will expand its overseas roaming services.

Company president Julius S. Djohan said yesterday the new facilities would allow Excelcomindo (GSM-XL) users roam in more than 30 countries later this year.

"We will sign agreements with GSM operators mostly in Europe," he said.

Julius said GSM-XL users could already use their handsets in seven countries. They are Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Netherlands, the Philippines and Singapore.

He said the service improvement was important to enable the company to compete with other cellular telephone providers because the government controlled prices.

Excelcomindo is the youngest of Indonesia's three GSM operators. GSM, the most recent system introduced here, is also operated by PT Telkomsel and PT Satelindo.

Excelcomindo is a joint venture owned by PT Telekomindo Primabhakti (50 percent), PT Santana Telekomindo (10 percent), Nynex Corp. of the United States (23.1 percent), Japan's Mitsui (4.2 percent) and the Asian Infrastructure Fund (12.7 percent).

Julius said that to participate in Indonesia's telecommunications development, Excelcomindo and Nynex had given scholarships to 20 qualified students of Bandung Institute of Technology and the Telkom Institute of Telecommunications, also in Bandung, West Java.

He said the companies planned to give other scholarships to 10 students from reputable state-run technical institutions later this year. (icn)