Indosat secures license from govt for DCS-1800
Indosat secures license from govt for DCS-1800
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed international telephone operator
PT Indosat announced on Tuesday that it had secured a provisional
license, in principal, from the government to provide a mobile
telephone service under the GSM compatible digital cordless
system (DCS-1800).
The state company said in a statement the provisional license
was granted on Monday through an official letter from the
minister of communications, dated Aug. 14.
It said the license would be valid for two years from the date
of issuance to give Indosat time for construction and commercial
preparations.
The provisional license also requires Indosat to provide
cellular network access and services with a minimum coverage of
10 percent of the country's 210 million population, the statement
said.
The company said the license was granted in accordance with
the government' Blue Print Policy on Indonesian
Telecommunications, which, among other things, provides guidances
on the early termination of exclusive rights currently held by
Indosat and the other state telecommunications company, PT
Telkom.
"This principal license will, therefore, be accounted as part
of compensatory measures for the early termination of our
rights," the company said.
Indosat and its subsidiary, Satelindo, currently hold the
exclusive rights to provide international telecommunications
services until 2004, while Telkom controls local and domestic
long distance calls until 2010 and 2005, respectively.
The government decided earlier this month to speed up the
termination of Indosat's monopoly in the international telephone
market to 2003, and Telkom's monopoly in the local and domestic
long distance calls sector to 2002 and 2003, respectively.
Company executive vice president for corporate development
Budi Prasetyo said separately Indosat expected to start
commercial operations of its mobile telephone business by the end
of next year or early 2002.
"Our service will be called Indosat Multimedia Mobile.
Construction activities are expected to be completed in the
second half of next year, so that we can start the service right
away," he told journalists on Tuesday.
He said the bidding for network construction work was expected
to be finalized in the next two or three months.
Indosat earlier said it had shortlisted six international
telecommunications firms, namely Alcatel, Ericsson, Lucent,
Motorola, Nokia and Siemens for the bidding.
Budi said Indosat had allocated at least US$200 million to
finance the development of some infrastructure in the initial
stage of service.
The company estimated it would need to spare another $600
million for the financing of more infrastructure in the second
stage, he said.
"In the second stage, we will likely invite strategic partners
to participate," he said.
He said Indosat would open its mobile telephone service in the
greater Jakarta area as well as Bandung, Yogyakarta, Semarang,
Surabaya, Denpasar and Batam in the first stage.
After five years of operation, Indosat expected to provide
cellular phone access for nearly half of the country's
population, he added. (cst)