Indosat to set up new ground network
Indosat to set up new ground network
JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned international telecommunications
provider PT Indosat will set up a new ground satellite network in
Gresik, East Java to support the telecommunications services of
the international organization Inmarsat.
Indosat president Tjahjono Soerjodibroto said on Saturday the
planned network will be used to facilitate the satellite-based
Personal Communications Services to be run by an Inmarsat
affiliate, I-CO Global Communications Ltd., in Indonesia.
I-CO was established by the International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization, known as Inmarsat, which provides mobile
communications for ships at sea, aircraft and land users. It owns
and operates a number of telecommunications satellites.
Indosat has also set up a company, PT Indokomsat Lintas Dunia,
to manage the business of I-CO in the country.
"The network could be an earth station or gateway. We will
decide after a meeting between Indosat and Inmarsat in Jakarta
later next week," Tjahjono said on Saturday.
Indosat has spent US$12.87 million to acquire a 1.41 percent
stake in I-CO, which will launch a global mobile satellite system
in 2000. The system, set to use 10 satellites, will permit mobile
voice and data communications through hand-held telephones
anywhere in the world, on land, sea or air.
When in service, the I-CO operations in Indonesia will compete
with PT Asia Cellular Satellite System (ACeS), a consortium of
three companies from Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand,
which will provide a similar service in late 1998 or early 1999.
ACeS will use two satellites, each weighing 2.6 tons, in serving
the Asia region.
Indosat, which is listed on the Jakarta and New York stock
exchanges, also has a Jakarta-Surabaya submarine cable network
with a gateway in Banyuurip, Gresik to facilitate
telecommunications services in the country's eastern provinces.
The company also operates International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization (Intelsat) earth stations supported by 564
satellite telephone circuits via a new earth station at its
Banyuurip gateway. (icn)