Indolink's services cover 85% of Java

JAKARTA (JP): Nationwide beeper operator PT Indolink First Pacific announced Tuesday that it now covered 85 percent the Java island, after finding that people were attracted to use beepers with wide coverage.

Company director, Hendarso Hadiparmono, said a survey which was confidentially conducted by a third party but exclusively for Indolink, revealed that radio paging users were attracted to subscribe beeper operators offering wide coverage.

He refused to give more details on the survey results.

He told reporters that to improve its coverage in the whole Java island for better service, Indolink had invested US$7.8 million since the incorporation of the company three years ago.

According to Hendarso, Indolink is at the moment the first beeper operator offering largest coverage in Java.

Indolink is 80 percent controlled by the Hong Kong-based First Pacific Communications Holdings, in which Salim Group controls the majority stakes, and 20 percent by the employee cooperative of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications. Established in 1994, Indolink currently has some 48,000 subscribers.

In addition to Indolink which offers nation-wide service, the government has licensed nine other operators to serve national radio paging service networks.

The firms licensed to operate radio paging nationally include PT Telematrixindo which operates EasyCall, PT Persada Komindo which operates Nusa Page and PT SkyTelindo which operates Skytel. The other services are Starpage of PT Duta Pertiwi Santosa, Telepage of PT Buana Bintangbayu and Indolink.

Due to tariff regulation set by the government, beeper competition is limited to services.

Hendarso said that Indolink was expected to gain its first net profit next year. "We expect to have the first operating profit this year."

He said that Indolink was also seeking ISO-9000 certification at least next, in an effort to become a leading radio paging beeper carrier.

The ISO-9000 is one of the guidelines and standards on quality system series introduced by the International Standardization Organization which was established in New York in 1987 by dozens of industrialized countries. (icn)