Multimedia firm to start next year
JAKARTA (JP): PT Indonusa Telemedia, a newly established multimedia company, will offer interactive non-telephony services beginning next year to television viewers.
Peter F. Gontha, the president of Datakom Asia, which partly owns the multimedia company, said yesterday that Indonusa Telemedia would offer domestic and international services.
The multimedia company is 35 percent owned by domestic telecommunications provider PT Telkom, 20 percent by cellular telecommunications provider PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti, 20 percent by private television broadcaster PT Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia (RCTI) and 25 percent by PT Datakom Asia.
An agreement on the establishment of Indonusa Telemedia was signed in Jakarta last October. The new company has an authorized capital of Rp 48 billion (US$20.5 million) and paid-up capital of Rp 12 billion ($5.1 million).
The new company, originally called PT Telemedia Indonesia, is owned by Telkom, Telekomindo, RCTI and PT Asriland, a subsidiary of the publicly-listed Bimantara Citra. Datakom, controlled by Asriland, then replaced Asriland and ownership did not change.
Datakom, also owned by state-owned PT Indosat, PT Persada Giri Abadi, PT Lembah Subur Adipertiwi and PT Azbindo Nusantara, has several subsidiaries and affiliated firms including PT Media Citra Indostar which will operate the Indostar satellite later this year.
"With RCTI as the content provider, Telekomindo as the marketing arm, Telkom as network provider and Datakom as satellite operator, Indonusa Telemedia will be a leading multimedia company," Gontha said.
Telekomindo's director, P. Sartono, said yesterday that Indonusa would provide entertainment services including news, audio materials, videos and games on demand, home shopping as well as transactions.
"We expect a trial operation in March or April next year. Some 500,000 users are estimated to use the service within the first five years of its operation," he said.
In addition to Indonusa Telemedia, there have been other firms prepared to run multimedia or multimedia-related services. The multimedia firms, mostly involving similar shareholders, include PT Multimedia Nusantara, PT Multi Media Asia (M2A) and PT YTC. Multimedia Nusantara is a consortium of PT Indocitra Grahabawana, Telkom, Indosat and the state-owned television broadcaster TVRI. M2A is owned by PT PSN and Indosat, while YTC is owned by Datakom, Youk Tanzil and Indosat. (icn)