ISPs threaten 'internet blackout'

ISPs threaten 'internet blackout'

Johannes Simbolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The country's Internet service providers (ISPs) are giving
consideration to suspending services for one day to warn the
government about their plight, caused by allegedly unfair
competition from TelkomNet Instan, a subsidiary of state
telecommunications company PT Telkom.

Heru Nugroho, chairman of the Association of Indonesian
Internet Service Providers (APJII), told The Jakarta Post on
Monday that the association's members had, in principle, agreed
to the idea, but they had yet to decide on the timeframe and
scope of the Internet blackout.

"We are still discussing whether to suspend our services only
for individual or corporate customers, or for access to local or
international websites," Heru explained.

He said the idea surfaced following the frustration felt by
APJII's members over what they saw as the government's apparent
indifference toward their difficulties.

Heru said earlier that about half of APJII's 90 members had
downsized their operations due to lack of subscribers. Among the
companies severely hit by the competition was WasantaraNet, a 51-
percent subsidiary of state-owned post firm PT Pos Indonesia,
which early this month stopped providing a service in 40 cities
across the country.

Wasantara was one of the country's largest ISPs, servicing 168
cities, including small ones, across the country.

The companies cannot compete with TelkomNet, which, apart from
being cheap, provides better technology, enabling customers to
access the Web quickly.

TelkomNet charges Internet users Rp 165 per minute for both
phone access and internet access, while customers of other ISPs
have to pay Rp 195 per pulse (two minutes during peak hours,
three minutes off-peak) for phone access, plus Rp 3,500 per hour
for internet access.

TelkomNet uses digital technology, while many other ISPs use
analog technology due to difficulties in obtaining permits from
Telkom to use digital technology. Telkom holds the monopoly over
the country's telecommunications network.

According to Heru, APJII has often asked the government to
push Telkom to cut the phone access price for other ISPs so that
they can better compete on price against TelkomNet, but, he said,
the government had thus far made no response.

"Thus, we are planning to withdraw services for one day to
warn the government about our difficulties," he said.

During the blackout, Internet users may still access the web
using TelkomNet.

Telecommunications analyst Roy Suryo called on the government
to step in to solve the ISPs' difficulties.

He agreed that Telkom had to provide discounts to other ISPs
for using its network, to enable them to compete.

"Rather than providing discounts, Telkom, in some regions,
charges ISPs a fixed monthly fee 10 times higher than the normal
ones, because it considers the phone lines as 'dormant', as the
ISPs never use them to make outgoing calls," Roy said.

"Of course they don't use the phone lines for outgoing calls
because they are used by their customers for Internet access,"
Roy said.

He added that in many foreign countries, owners of
telecommunications networks are not allowed to run an ISP
business, to ensure fair competition.

The government may allow Telkom to continue its ISP business
as there is no obligation to copy the systems of other countries,
Roy said. But the government must draw up regulations to ensure
fair competition.

Meanwhile, Pande Radja Silalahi, a member of the Commission
for Business Competition (KPPU), said the agency had been
informed about the issue and had set up a small task force to
study whether Telkom had violated the regulations designed to
ensure fair competition.