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.