Indosat forms joint venture company in Kazakstan
JAKARTA (JP): International telecommunications operator PT Indosat has set up a joint venture company in Kazakhstan, named Inkatel, to provide small aperture terminal (VSAT) telecommunication services in the central Asian republic.
The company announced here yesterday the new company, with paid-up capital of US$4.75 million, is 40 percent owned by Indosat, 50 percent owned by the Jarykh limited company of Kazakhstan and 10 percent by PT Prima Comexindo.
Jarykh is a Kazakhstani state-owned telecommunication company, while Comexindo is a private firm controlled by Hasjim Djojohadikusumo who plans to build a cotton-spinning factory in Uzbekistan.
The Kazakhstani joint venture was formed as part of Indosat's expansion program.
Indosat, listed on the New York and Jakarta stock exchanges, announced its plan earlier to invest about $736.5 million between 1996 and 2000 on regional and international telecommunication projects and on domestic telecommunication infrastructure.
Indosat has a 49 percent stake in Cambodia-based Camintel SA, a firm incorporated in 1994 to repair and renovate Cambodia's telephone network which was vandalized in political strife two years ago. The Cambodian Ministry of Post and Telecommunications owns 51 percent of the firm.
Another Indosat subsidiary, PT Indoprima Mikroselindo (Primasel), plans to launch a Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) in Surabaya, East Java, next January. PHS is a new mobile phone system developed in Japan which works at 1.9 gigahertz.
Primasel, formed last August with paid-up capital of $2.12 million, is 20 percent owned by Indosat, 20 percent by the state- owned telecommunication-equipment manufacturer PT Inti, 35 percent by PT Yamabri Komunikasindo, a company controlled by the Foundation of Military Headquarters, and 25 percent by Primkopparpostel, the cooperative of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications.
Inti marketing director Jopie Manduapessy told The Jakarta Post earlier this week that Primasel expected to install about 1,000 PHS lines in Surabaya.
"Despite the expansion of current cellular systems, PHS will be more attractive because call tariffs will be very similar to fixed-telephone charges," he said.
He was optimistic that Primasel would win a license to operate PHS regionally or nationally, though the government has repeatedly announced that firms running trial operations would not automatically win the planned tenders for the licenses.
The government is expected to launch an open tender to determine several new cellular telephone operators early next year. A number of trial operations have been launched, such as the DCS-1,800 system run by PT Cellnet Nusantara in Jakarta.
"Of course we are ready with the service after the long-term preparation in cooperation with JRC of Japan," Manduapessy said. (icn)