Indosat rings in a bright new millenium

Indosat rings in a bright new millenium

Telecommunications has played a major role in Indonesia's development, and promises to be a vital cog in the wheel of industrialization into the next millennium.

After 30 years as the country's number one international telecommunications carrier, Indosat has set a vision -- what it terms its "1-plus-3" strategy -- to remain in this distinguished position. Listed on the New York, Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges since 1994, it is now working to strengthen its distinction as a world-class telecommunications company and graduate to become a global player.

In this strategy, it is focusing on international telecommunications as a core business, and ensuring its long-term growth by investing in development of domestic telecommunications infrastructure, increasing its role in regional and global telecommunications, and undertaking limited diversification into complementary businesses.

Evidence of telecommunications' importance -- and Indosat's prominent role -- in the Indonesian economy is everywhere. The traffic of international calls to and from Indonesia rose 17 percent in 1996, and has consistently shown double-digit growth over the past decade.

Indosat has been at the forefront of providing these services.

The company prides itself on demonstrating an ability to serve a wide range of telecommunication needs, from the most basic international telephone, telex and telegram services to the latest integrated services digital network.

Hundreds of thousands of international telephone calls lasting millions of minutes in duration are handled by Indosat's international traffic management center each day, accounting for over 89 percent of all telephone calls and facsimile transmissions between the country and the rest of the world in 1996.

One of the company's strengths lies in its ability to connect customers from 400 cities in the country to more than 250 destinations worldwide. Its satellite networks -- through Intelsat and Inmarsat -- span the entire globe; the company co-owns 12 major submarine cables extending over more than 100,000 kilometers between Europe and North America via the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Over the years, Indosat has been widely recognized for the innovative ways in which it applies new technologies to its international telecommunications services in the country. The company defines these as its total solution concepts -- meeting the complex global telecommunications needs of our customers through consultation and long-term involvement.

Digital voice and data circuits provide customers with high- quality transmission for telephone and facsimile use. These same circuits are utilized for dedicated highspeed lines, teleconferencing, frame relays, virtual private networks, satellite mobile services for land, sea and air and a host of other services available.

Among these are Indosat Direct Dial, providing direct dialing to more than 250 global destinations; Indosat Operator 101/104 with private assistance for international calls; Indosat Calling Card, which facilitates international calls from wherever a customer is located; Indosat PreCard, which allows the user to make international calls according to the value of a prepayment.

Also available are credit card services, including the Indosat Credit Card Calling and Indosat Credit Phone; Indosat Indonesia Direct, allowing for collect calls from more than 30 countries; Indosat Home Direct, a direct service to Indonesia with credit card payment; Indosat Free Phone, a toll-free number for use by overseas customers, with a monthly billing list date, duration, location and rates; Indosat Virtual Net, providing Internet hookup without using IDD or country or area codes; Indosat Fax Plus; Indosat Geo-7, satellite telephones for communication with remote areas; Indosat Telex; Indosat Telegram; Indosat World Link; Indosat Direct Link; and Indosat Frame Net, for communications with frame relay technology.

Indosat is also keeping poll position on the information superhighway.

Its Internet services include Indosat Packet Net, an efficient means of sending data between domestic computers internationally, and Indosatnet. There is also the Indosat Video Link, Indosat ISDN and Indosat TV Link.

Choice Partnerships

In its efforts to provide the best international services, Indosat has formed choice partnerships.

It belongs to the WorldPartners alliance, the leading one-stop service facility for international businesses throughout Asia- Pacific and North America. WorldPartners brings together the network of 16 leading international telecommunications companies in these regions and it is also linked to the UniSource alliance in Europe.

Indosat also belongs to the alliances of GlobalOne and Concert, both of which span the entire globe with more key members today than ever before.

In Southeast Asia, Indosat is part of Acasia, the ASEAN alliance of Indosat, Telekom Malaysia, Singapore Telecom, Philippine Long Distance Telephone, Jabatan Telekom Brunei and the Communications Authority of Thailand.

Indosat is also a member of the Global Virtual Network Services Forum and the Asia Multimedia Forum, both of which are developing international protocols for their respective services.

'We Care More'

Indosat's rallying cry in serving its customers, We Care More, was first adopted in 1993. It has been the essence of how Indosat believes it should act in facing growing competition.

The company expresses its caring for the customer by anticipating changing needs, keeping one step ahead of the competition and delivering a level of service which exceeds customers' expectations. It is fostering a more creative working environment, adopting a more flexible approach to problem solving, reaching out more extensively and frequently to customers, and positioning products and services more prominently in customers' minds.

Its commitment to customers is evidenced in the establishment of a 24-hour Customer Care Center. Quality of human resources is emphasized through continued development throughout staff members' careers. The company's modern training center in Jatiluhur, West Java, equips them with the additional skills and knowledge to face the challenges of the 21st century.

This commitment has paid off with a list of the 100 largest customers which reads like a Who's Who of international businesses, including American Express Bank, Astra International, ARCO, Citibank, Freeport Indonesia, Hilton Hotel, IBM, Mitsubishi, NEC and Standard Chartered Bank.

But above all, whether serving multinational corporations or individual subscribers across the nation, Indosat maintains its commitment to shareholders, the national welfare, the communities in which it operates and its employees.