Indosat launches StarOne

Indosat launches StarOne

Tony Hotland, Jakarta

Telecommunications firm PT Indonesian Satellite Corporation
(Indosat) expects the revenue from its newest service -- the
fixed-wireless phone StarOne -- to be able to compensate possible
losses in its direct international dial service.

"I can't give any projection yet on how much StarOne can
contribute to total revenue, but we hope that it can offset the
possible losses from our international call service," Indosat
director of fixed telecommunications and multimedia Wahyu
Wijayadi said on Thursday after the launch of StarOne for the
Jakarta area.

Indosat, previously the only player in the international call
sector, is likely to experience declining profit in the business
after rival PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) launched its
international call service last month.

Telkom's target is to win 25 percent of market share.

The international call service accounted for 22 percent of
Indosat's total revenue in 2003, while the cellular service
contributed 62.1 percent. The remainder came from multimedia and
other services.

With the capacity to serve 700,000 subscribers, Wahyu said in
the medium term Indosat planned to sign up 350,000 StarOne
subscribers in Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java.

Indosat first launched StarOne in Surabaya and surrounding
areas Malang and Pasuruan in May. The company said it now had
about 4,000 subscribers there.

"We plan to invest about US$40 million in the fixed-wireless
service. StarOne will be mostly offered to residential areas and
offices and business areas will be offered our fixed-line (I-
Phone)," he said.

Wahyu said the company planned to invite investors to help it
move into other areas.

The launch of StarOne was part of efforts to boost the number
of people with access to fixed telephones in the country, which
currently stood at around 9.5 million out of 215 million people
nationwide, he said.

StarOne is a fixed-wireless service that allows cellular
mobility within a designated area but with a much lower tariffs.

The service enables users to make long-distance and
international calls and send short messages to other Indosat
cellular lines (Mentari, IM3, and Matrix).

It also allows users to have access to internet at the speed
of 153.6 kilobytes per second (kbps).

StarOne will compete with three other fixed-wireless systems
in the market. They are Telkom Flexi (by Telkom), Esia and
Mandara.

StarOne, like other fixed-wireless services, is compatible
only with certain types of mobile handsets.