More satellite licenses to come

More satellite licenses to come

By I. Christianto

GENEVA (JP): The Indonesian government will award more
satellite licenses to private firms intending to operate and
provide satellite network services, a senior official said here
yesterday.

Secretary general of the ministry of tourism, post and
telecommunications, Jonathan L. Parapak, said private firms
played an important role in developing the country's
telecommunications industry and satellite networks would be a
promising business in domestic as well as regional markets.

"Why not (give more satellite licenses) if it's necessary and
since there are still satellite slots available? We can penetrate
overseas markets like China, India, Australia and so on. So don't
only think about domestic competition in satellite business,"
Parapak said after delivering a presentation on national
information infrastructure at the TELECOM Interactive 1997 Forum.

Currently three Indonesian firms operate satellites: PT
Telkom, PT Satelindo and PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN).

PT Media Citra Indostar will launch its first satellite next
month. PT Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) and PT Multi Media Asia
(M2A), partly owned by PSN, will operate their own satellites in
the next few years.

In the meantime, the government has booked 24 satellite slots
at the International Telecommunications Union for further
approval.

Parapak indicated that private firms, including the newly
established multimedia companies, would likely be granted
licenses to operate satellites.

"We rely on private firms (in developing the country), even
Telkom is now a private firm as it has been listed on capital
markets," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said the government, private firms and educational as well
as research institutions must work hand in hand to realize the
so-called Nusantara 21, a national information infrastructure.

Nusantara 21, a multibillion dollar communications project, is
designed to connect the whole archipelago to the information
superhighway. The project will include the development of
multimedia technology in several big cities and wideband super
lanes by 2001.

"We are still working on this project, it's reasonable if
Indonesia has a low multimedia access rate," Parapak said.

In its recent report, titled "Challenging to the Network:
Telecommunications and the Internet", ITU ranked Indonesia 44th
out of 45 nations.

The multimedia access rankings were based on penetration of
telephone line density, TV set density and Internet hosts
density. The report shows that Indonesia's main telephone line
density in 1996 was 2.1, while TV sets density in 1995 and
Internet hosts density in 1996 were 18.3 and 0.005, respectively.

In his speech, Parapak said that Nusantara 21 is another
breakthrough in Indonesian telecommunications technology after
deciding to develop a communications satellite system, Palapa, in
1976.

Indonesia became the first Asian nation to operate a domestic
satellite at a time when such a system was only applied by
developed countries like Canada and the United States, he said.

Indonesia is currently developing telecommunications networks
and infrastructure -- including fiber optics, submarine cables,
terrestrial gateways and satellites -- for fixed
telecommunications lines and cellular services.

Chairperson and senior advisor of the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, Diana L. Dougan, said the biggest problems
in developing national information are technological protection,
market reality and government promises.

She said many governments around the world failed to keep
promises on new regulations.