Indonesia's PT Satelindo leading the digital cellular race
Indonesia's PT Satelindo leading the digital cellular race
JAKARTA (JP): Competition among Indonesia's mobile cellular
telephone operators is now getting fiercer with innovative
services and features offered to customers as the tariffs for
telephone traffics are controlled by the government.
As the first telecommunications operator of the Global System
for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Indonesia, PT Satelindo is now
leading the digital cellular race, backed with qualified human
resources and a strong financial structure. GSM was launched here
in 1994.
"The business of cellular telecommunications is not just
selling the product but taking care of customers," said
Satelindo's deputy marketing director Mario Cardinali.
He said that over any other operator, his company is committed
to providing better services and warranties to its customers.
Since obtaining its license as a GSM operator, the government
has licensed two more operator, PT Telkomsel and PT Excelcomindo,
to run this kind of business. The three operators have planned
major projects to further expand their services in various cities
throughout Indonesia.
GSM was first developed in European nations in 1985. Germany
applied the digital mobile cellular telecommunications system
which now expands to more than 70 countries all over the world.
GSM, one of the main leaders in digital cellular mobile
telephone technologies in the world, has several benefits
compared with other systems. These benefits include global
network access, clearer transmissions and high security, as well
as many other features.
There are currently two analog modes operated in Indonesia,
the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and the Nordic Mobile
Telephones (NMT).
Satelindo has set its GSM service to meet several objectives:
To serve the increased need for telecommunications
facilities, particularly within the growing business community.
To supplement the existing telecommunications systems and to
promote the services already available.
To fulfill the government's goal to enhance the role of the
private sector in telecommunications development and management.
To create high quality telecommunications services while
maintaining cost effectiveness and high efficiency.
The company aims to also provide facilities for integrated
telecommunications services regionally, nationally and
internationally. Underlying this is a devotion to providing the
most state-of-the-art, reliable and cost-effective
telecommunications system available on the global market.
The company is instrumental in the entire process of the
telecommunications sector development and individual use,
including planing, engineering, construction, development,
operation and maintenance of facilities and services.
Cardinali said that Satelindo currently has a total of 160,000
subscribers in its current major markets of the greater Jakarta
area, Bandung in West Java, Surakarta and Semarang in Central
Java, Surabaya in East Java, and Denpasar in Bali.
With its 160,000 registered subscribers, Satelindo is
currently the country's leader in the mobile cellular telephone
market as there are some 310,000 cellular users in the 200-
million-population Indonesia.
"We expect to have 250,000 subscribers by the end of 1996,"
Cardinali said.
"In August, we plan to expand our GSM service to cities
outside Java, including Medan in Sumatra, Balikpapan in
Kalimantan and Ujungpandang in Sulawesi," he said, adding that by
the end 1996, the company will enter another 10 to 12 of
Indonesia's main cities.
The company, which has announced that it will net a total of
350,000 subscribers by the end of 1997, expects to see between
12,000 and 15,000 new subscribers per month.
"We're aggressive in acquiring customers. Also, we want to
take care of them. Loyalty is very important. We also consider
that quality of service is the most important thing," Cardinali
said.
Since starting its GSM service two years ago, Satelindo
believes that it is still the market leader, always providing the
best services to customers based on world-class standards.
Satelindo, an Indonesia-Germany joint venture firm, has
already invested US$500 million in its GSM operations, which
currently uses some 330 Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in the
coverage areas, including 243 BTS in the greater Jakarta area.
According to Cardinali, by the end of this year, the company
plans to operate 700 to 800 Base Transceiver Stations around the
country.
Adding features
To provide its customer with the best services, Satelindo has
launched a fax and data service which will allow its customers to
send data and to use a modem on its digital network.
The feature, called Mobile Data/Fax, will be applicable with a
set of hardware and software. The hardware includes a subscriber
identity module card, a handset with GSM service for fax and
data, a cellular modem from the Personal Computer Memory Card
International Association (PCMCIA) and a notebook personal
computer.
The software includes Microsoft Windows (3.11 and '95) as its
operating system, GSM fax software for Windows and PCMCIA modem
utility.
Through this service, subscribers will be able to send and
receive telecopy transmissions from Satelindo's GSM handsets to
facsimile machines, using normal telephone lines and vice versa.
Soon, the service will also be able to access Internet service
providers.
Subscribers interested in using the new service will be
required to pay a connection fee as well as a monthly fee. Using
the new facility, subscribers will still be charged for data
traffic as the air-time utilization.
Due to Jakarta's terrible traffic jams, the fax and data
service will eventually be seen as a very necessary service.
Another feature offered by Satelindo is roaming.
"We have, at the moment, roaming facilities in 12 foreign
countries. Satelindo's roaming services with overseas GSM
operators will total 20 to 30 by the end of 1996," Cardinali
said.
Roaming services allow GSM customers to use local cellular
telephones in foreign countries to call operators in Indonesia
and vice versa.
Satelindo, which also operates the Palapa-C1 satellite and
services international calls, used equipment and technology from
Alcatel of France and Siemens of Germany, in developing its GSM
networks.
"We want to thank our customers for using our GSM service. We
believe that competition is good for both the customers and the
operators," Cardinali said.
He said that a competitive situation usually results in better
value for money, which extends advantages to the public.
"Since telephone calls are regulated by the government, the
public will enjoy cheaper prices on handsets."
Satelindo, for instance, has launched a special-offer package
for just Rp 799,000, subject to value added tax.
Under the offer, people will have to pay Rp 887,073 to get a
Satelindo GSM subscriber identity module (SIM) card and
activation, and a Nokia 2010 handset with battery, charger, user
guide as well as a one-year warranty.
"This will also cover a special offer called 'swop on site'
(SOS) which allows subscribers to have service on faults,"
Cardinali said.
Best service
Satelindo, which is 22.5 percent owned by the state-owned
domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom, 7.5 percent by the
state-owned international telecommunications company PT Indosat,
45 percent by PT Bimagraha Telekomindo and 25 percent by
DeTeMobil of Germany, is always trying to provide best service to
its customers.
"For instance, in the payment system, people are free to use
direct debit or credit cards," Cardinali said.
He said that Satelindo is also offering a simplified billing
system to its customers.
"The current billing system is very complicated. We have
committed to offer a simplified and understandable billing
service."
Satelindo currently opens nine customer care centers, six in
Jakarta, and one each in Bandung in West Java, Semarang in
Central Java and Surabaya in East Java.
In addition to the customer care centers, which answer
enquiries and give services and sales, Satelindo also offers its
customers a phone service, which is more popular with its
subscribers.
Subscribers just dial 222 to received information.
With its human resources and financial structure Satelindo is
committed to keep leading Indonesia's cellular market. Its no
wonder either that the company plans to serve new subscribers by
having their GSMs activated within just couple of hours of
purchase. Satelindo, which now only needs one day to activate new
lines, will someday be able to serve new connections in less than
two hours.
The company's total assets are estimated to reach Rp 2.15
trillion by the end of this year, comprising Rp 1.44 trillion in
equity and the remainder in liabilities.
Running a GSM service, as well as an international
telecommunications service and satellite leasing, Satelindo
expects to gain Rp 584.5 billion in revenue this year from its
business.
Profit is estimated to reach Rp 55 billion in 1996, Rp 30.35
billion of which is expected from cellular telephone services, Rp
20.2 billion from satellite transponder leasing and Rp 4.45
billion from international telecommunications services.
Satelindo's mission is to nurture the development of
telecommunications services by providing its customers with "one-
stop shopping".
The company is dedicated to offering individuals and
businesses numerous high-quality services that are readily
available, reliable and affordable. It strives to remain highly
competitive in the telecommunications field and to efficiently
represent Indonesia in the international field of
telecommunications business.