Indosat opens IDD to Israel

JAKARTA (JP): International call operator PT Indosat has announced the opening of a direct dialing facility to Israel to anticipate increased call traffic between the two countries following President Abdurrahman Wahid's move to improve trade ties between the two countries.

Indosat's public relations manager JB Basuki said on Wednesday the company previously did not provide a direct dialing service to Israel mainly because of the low call traffic.

Calls from Indonesia to Israel were previously connected through an operator in Singapore, German or Italy, he said.

"It's strictly a business calculation. We did not provide a direct connection facility to Israel because it was not profitable considering the low traffic," he told Antara. (cst)