New cordless telephone service launched
New cordless telephone service launched
JAKARTA (JP): PT Telepoint Nusantara launched a new cordless
telephone service yesterday, affordable to students and the
middle-class, in hopes of competing with the rapidly expanding
mobile cellular telecommunications.
This cordless telephone service CT2 will charge only
conventional phone rates, Coordinating Minister for Political
Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman said at the event
launching the service that students and middle-income people are
potential customers of Telepoint.
Different from mobile cellular phones, which run two-way
telecommunications, this cordless technology, known as CT2, is
capable only of making outgoing calls in limited zones.
Telepoint, set up in 1995, is 20 percent owned by Merdeka
Kerta Raharja, a foundation of employees of the office of the
coordinating minister for political affairs and security.
The company's other shareholders are the cooperatives of the
employees from the Directorate General of Post and
Telecommunications, and the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications (each with 5 percent); Telepoint's president
Romeo Sibih (47.5 percent); and managing director Ali Chendra
(22.5 percent).
Sibih said that subscribers of the Telepoint service will be
charged Rp 462,000, which includes a cordless telephone for Rp
260,000 (US$111), a registration fee of Rp 100,000 ($42.60), a
first-month subscription fee of Rp 60,000, and a 10-percent value
added tax of Rp 42,000 ($18).
After this, the monthly subscription fee will cost Rp 22,500,
plus a billing charge of Rp 160 (6.5 U.S. cents) per three
minutes. The billing charge includes a standard fixed-line
charge of Rp 110, which will go to the state-owned PT Telkom, and
a Rp 50 air-time charge which will go to Telepoint.
"Telepoint services will initially provide only local calls.
We will later consider extending our services to long distance
and cellular calls," Sibih said, adding that CT2 service works at
864-868 megahertz and can be upgraded to the Digital Enhanced
Cordless Telecommunications.
Telepoint has invested up to Rp 25 million to install and
activate up to 1,000 base stations in the Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok
and Tangerang areas, he said.
"We will enter Bandung in West Java next month, Surabaya in
East Java, Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surakarta in Central Java in
1997. The additional investment will range between Rp 10 and 20
billion per city," he said.
Sibih is optimistic that Telepoint will be able to book 20,000
users in the first year of offering the new service. (icn)