IndosatNet spreads Internet service

JAKARTA (JP): IndosatNet, owned by state telecommunication company Indosat, has launched its Internet service in Medan, Batam, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya and Denpasar.

Zuraida Boerhanuddin, the general manager of Indosat's business development II division, said yesterday that IndosatNet planned to launch its service in other cities next year.

"IndosatNet first launched its service in Jakarta in April," she said after the signing of cooperation agreements with Asia's leading Internet service provider AUNET, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Center for Information Development Studies (CIDES).

AUNET would provide "premium corporate access" to IndosatNet's domestic corporate customers so they could access their branches worldwide via Internet, she said.

The chamber of commerce and CIDES would open homepages on IndosatNet, giving ready access to their information, she said.

Zuraida said IndosatNet had 3,000 individual subscribers and 10 corporate subscribers.

Zuraida said IndosatNet had launched new services, Internet Network Provider (INP) and Indosat Internet Exchange (IIX), for local Internet service providers.

IndosatNet's INP service, she said, provided local Internet service providers cheap connections to the Internet, while its IIX service provided local users easier access.

She said six of the 30 local Internet service providers were planning to use IndosatNet's INP service. They were IptekNet, LinkNet, MediaNet, WasantaraNet, BumiNet and PasifikNet.

IndosatNet held a one-day seminar on Internet yesterday at Indosat's headquarters. It opened a five-day Internet exhibition on Monday at the same venue. (jsk)