More costly city calls

More costly city calls

Although the number of people who own telephones is still low
in Indonesia as compared to many of its neighboring countries,
this handy means of telecommunication is now regarded a standard
necessity in middle-income bracket homes.

Owning a telephones is nowadays considered appropriate even in
families that one could regard as belonging to the less
privileged groups of our society, and for a valid reason. Since
in this modern age, they too must compete to secure a living, for
them the telephone is often no less important than for any other
entrepreneur.

The long lines of people who can be seen waiting on weekdays
for a connection in front of telephone booths in Jakarta and in
most provincial towns in this country supports the assumption
that telephones have now come to be regarded as a necessity for a
growing number of people nationwide.

Actually, such a development could have been expected long ago
as the rapid pace of economic and social development continues.
In Jakarta and other big cities, a telephone connection is often
the only way to contact another person at a given time. It also
alleviates the need for people to crowd onto buses, to fight the
endless traffic snarls and to find parking spaces. And as most
parents are now working, the telephone is a reassuring means to
connect them with their children at home.

Aware of this public need, the government has tried its best
to broaden the country's telecommunications network, while at the
same time making serious efforts to improve the quality of the
telephone company's service. Still, complaints are heard. For
years, for example, people have been fretting about what they
perceive to be excessively high telephone bills.

By nature, Indonesians are not complainers. On occasion,
however, and particularly as talk of mismanagement in many
government agencies or state-owned companies circulate in the
community, the burden is felt to be too heavy.

In the electricity business, for example, customers have their
power cut off if they are a little late in paying their monthly
bills. On the other hand the state-owned electricity company PLN
never seems to have paid much attention to complaints of low
voltage, or of frequent unannounced blackouts, not to speak of
offering apologies for the inconvenience caused to customers.

So far it seems that the public has largely been powerless in
facing such manifestations of official arrogance. The House of
Representatives, as usual, appears reluctant to talk about it.
Even the Indonesian Consumers Agency has been mostly silent.

To get back to our telephone system, we greatly appreciate the
company's efforts to make this modern means of communication
available to as many people as possible, for example by lowering
the installation fees. We also understand the government's desire
to get its investment in the telephone business back as soon as
possible.

It is unfortunate, however, that the 10 percent increase in
telephone charges for city calls, as announced by Minister of
Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave recently, can so
easily give the impression that the cheaper installation costs
are merely bait to get more customers, in order to boost the
company's revenues. City calls, after all, are the kind of calls
most people in the middle-class and lower-income groups make to
do all kinds of transactions.