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)