Monthly installment scheme announced for phone lines
Monthly installment scheme announced for phone lines
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta residents can now pay to have new
telephones installed in monthly payments through a new policy
implemented by the mayoralty telecommunications office.
The chief of the West Jakarta chapter of the state-owned
telecommunications company, Jimmy Villanueva, announced yesterday
that the aspiring applicants for telephone lines must only pay a
25 percent down payment plus taxes, which totals Rp 261,000
(US$120).
"The remaining Rp 750,000 can be paid in five installments
over a five-month period after the line is installed," he said,
adding that no interest will be added to the installment payment.
The official fee to have a telephone line installed is Rp
1,011,000.
Jimmy said that each installment will be charged on the
customer's monthly bill.
Previously, applicants had to pay the 25 percent down payment
when they applied for a line, and the rest at least a week before
the office installed the line.
Agus Sutrisno, of the office's public relations staff,
explained that the waiting period for the new telephone line is
between two weeks and one year.
"It all depends on the wiring system in the area. If an
applicant's house is located in an area already served by an
automatic system, it will not take long to install a working
phone," he said.
According to Jimmy, for the time being the office will
determine the area in which new lines will be installed, then
publicly announce the decision in the Saturday editions of nine
daily newspapers including Media Indonesia, Bisnis Indonesia,
Merdeka, Pos Kota and Pelita.
Application forms
Agus said that those living in the areas included on the
office's announcement list are only required to submit an
application form, called Tel-2B, copies of their Identity Cards
(IDs) and maps showing the location of their houses.
Jimmy said that nine of the office's subchapters will be
appointed as the sales counters that will serve the applicants'
application forms and other details required.
The new plan is believed to be part of the office's efforts to
reach the target of installing 93,000 telephone lines in West
Jakarta in 1994. As of June 30, the office had already installed
35,681 lines.
Jimmy said his office will install another 598 public coin
telephones and 2,491 public card telephones in 10 of West
Jakarta's districts, including the Seribu Islands, a group of
islands north of the Jakarta Bay.
At present, there are 4,810 public telephones in the West
Jakarta mayoralty, of which 2,756 are coin telephones, 1,230
multi-coin telephones, 810 card telephones and 14 credit card
telephones.
Jimmy said that in the long run, the government will intensify
the use of public card telephones as they are profitable and
their maintenance costs are relatively inexpensive.(03)