Jakarta needs more pay phones that work
Jakarta needs more pay phones that work
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Pedestrians often come to Anen's stall on Jl. K.S. Tubun,
Slipi, Central Jakarta, merely to exchange bills for coins to
make phone calls from a public phone next to his kiosk.
"Some of them alight from public minivans, and head for my
stall to get some change and try to make calls from the public
phone," he told The Jakarta Post last week.
But the phone users find nothing but frustration, as they
later find out that the phone is out of order right after a coin
or two is inserted.
A recent report from the state telecommunications company PT
Telkom showed that 40 percent of the 20,000 public phones in the
city were out of order, mostly because of vandalism.
Decreasing revenues from public phones, has recently motivated
Telkom to transfer the management of the phones to the private
sector. Telkom also believes that the use of cellular phones has
contributed to the dwindling revenues from public phone usage.
Wati, not her real name, told the Post that although she had a
cellular phone, public phones were still very helpful as they
offered a cheap alternative.
"I can make a local phone call as long as I want, without
thinking that it will cost me a lot," she said.
She said that she used pay phones often when the credit for
her cell phone ran out.
According to her, it was far cheaper to make a call from a
public phone than from a privately-run telecommunications outlet
or wartel.
"I would be happier if the public pay phones were easily
accessible and actually worked," she said.
From a public phone, one can make a phone call for up to three
minutes, depending on the distance, for just Rp 100. The cost
offered at the wartel may be several times higher, and higher
still for cell phone call.
On Jl. K.S. Tubun which leads to Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta,
there are only a few public phones that work. One of them is
sheltered by a makeshift stall, so that to make a phone call, one
has to go inside it.
Anen noticed that users for public phones are mostly
teenagers. "Maybe because they don't have their own cellular
phones or do not have enough money to go to a wartel," he said.
Inside the compound of nearby Tresna Pangastuti hospital,
where almost all the pay phones still work, the demand for public
phones is high.
Nedi, a staffer at the hospital said that family members of
patients were those who used the public phones as their means of
communication.
"A number of the hospital staffers also make calls on the
public phones here," he said.
He said that the pay phones at the hospital were left
untouched by vandals because they were installed inside the
hospital compound.
A number of technicians from Telkom regularly collect coins
from their boxes and do some maintenance work.
Telkom probably generates a considerable amount of revenue
from well-maintained public phones, Nedi surmised.