Indolink's services cover 85% of Java

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)