Local cellular operators will earn US$720m in 1997

Local cellular operators will earn US$720m in 1997

JAKARTA (JP): Domestic mobile cellular telecommunications
operators will earn US$720 million next year because of more
subscribers, a PT Telekomindo executive said yesterday.

Rudiantara said yesterday there would be between 600,000 and
620,000 domestic cellular users by the end of this year.

"The figure is predicted to double by the end of 1997," he
said.

Telekomindo, which runs the Advanced Mobile Phone System
(AMPS), is one of the country's seven cellular operators. The
company has shares in PT Excelcomindo which operates the Global
System for Mobile communications (GSM).

Rudi said the seven cellular operators were projected to earn
about $800 from each of their subscribers next year, excluding
revenue from long distance and international calls which would go
to PT Indosat, PT Telkom and PT Satelindo.

The government estimated there would be about 1.2 million
users by the end of next year, he said. "But even if there were
only about 900,000 users by the end of 1997, revenue would exceed
$720 million."

"The cellular telecommunications business is very promising in
Indonesia," he said.

He said the cellular handset market would also be more
promising next year.

"Say a handset costs about Rp 750,000 ($317). Cellular handset
deals would be worth at least $142.65 million for about 450,000
new users in 1997," he said.

The government has licensed seven mobile cellular
telecommunications operators: Telekomindo, PT Metrosel Nusantara
and PT Komselindo which run AMPS; Excelcomindo, PT Telkomsel and
PT Satelindo which serve GSM; and PT Mobile Telephone which runs
a Nordic Mobile Telephone system.

Excelcomindo president Julius S. Djohan said yesterday his
company would enter Bali, Lombok, Yogyakarta, North Sumatra and
Central Java after penetrating key markets in Jakarta, Bandung
(West Java) and Surabaya (East Java) which it entered last month.

"We will invest between $250 million and $300 million in 1997
in addition to about $250 million invested this year," he said,
adding that most of this would be used for infrastructure.

He said Excelcomindo, which goes under the GSM-XL brand, had
about 6,000 users. "We expect to have 150,000 users by 1997."

"To win the country's highly competitive cellular business, we
must focus on customer service. If we promote something special,
we must consequently establish and maintain that service, or our
users will leave us," he said.

He said domestic GSM operators' main problem was selecting
good spots for base transceiver stations. (icn)