Linknet offers electronic commerce services

JAKARTA (JP): Internet company Linknet is offering an electronic commerce service as part of its expansion in Indonesia's growing internet market.

Linknet president Rohmad Hadiwijoyo said yesterday the service was part of his company's three new services which would be launched Thursday.

The other two services are Indonesian business data, which includes market and company analysis, and an education center with an online library.

Previously, Linknet, like its three main competitors -- Radnet, Uninet, and Indosat-net -- offered only gateway and e- mail electronic services through the internet medium.

"We have invested Rp 2.8 billion (US$1.19 million) for these new internet services," Rohmad said.

The company will hold a seminar titled The Electronic Commerce Toward the Year 2000 at Thursday's launch.

"Now Linknet is the only company offering such services. And I believe this business will flourish. More and more people and companies will turn from the manual transaction system to the online transaction system through the internet," he said.

He said many small and medium suppliers had to turn to the system because their big partners used it for transactions.

He cited giant retailers JC Penny and Wal-Mart as two companies which no longer accepted orders manually. Orders to the companies have to be forwarded through the internet service.

He said the electronic commerce service was expanding throughout world. In Asia alone, the service had been applied in 11 countries.

"This year there are 30 million computers which can communicate to each other through the internet media. It is expected to increase by 433 percent to 160 million computers in the year 2000. During the same period the number of the world's companies using the internet services will increase by 150 percent from only 600,000 to 1.5 million," he said.

He said the electronic commerce service was used particularly by international banks for internet banking.

"With the facility, bank customers can transfer their money, pay their loans, or ask for their deposit balance through their computers at home," he said.

Several foreign and local speakers including Bank Indonesia governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono, Ministry of Tourism, Post and Communication secretary general J. Parapak, Netscape Communication's Gregory Harris and U.S. firm GE Information Services' Michel Danon will speak at the seminar. (bnt)