New decree on VoIP puts light out on old operators

Debbie A. Lubis, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is set to issue a new ministerial decree this week that bans existing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operators from continuing their services and gives the go-ahead to five new operators to start their services.

VoIP is a technology for transmitting ordinary telephone calls over the Internet using packet-linked routes.

Gatot S. Dewabroto, spokesman for the Directorate General for Post and Telecommunications at the Ministry of Communications, said that under the decree the current 12 VoIP operators have to stop their services before June 1.

As of that date, only the five new operators will be allowed to offer VoIP services, namely state-owned companies PT Telkom, PT Indosat and Indosat's cellular subsidiary PT Satelindo, and private companies PT Gaharu Sejahtera and PT Atlassat Solusindo.

The five companies received licenses from the government to operate VoIP services last year, according to Gatot.

"The existing 12 operators have to stop their services because the government never licensed them to do VoIP business. Their licenses are not for VoIP," Gatot said.

The granting by the government of licenses to five new operators and the plan to stop the existing operators' business have drawn strong protests from the operators as well as the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII).

The association objects to the government's argument that the operators had never been granted licenses to offer VoIP services.

The association acknowledged that the licenses held by the 12 operators did not mention VoIP. Instead, the licenses only name "Internet telephony, protocol talk, protocol Internet phone, Internet talk or Internet phone" as the businesses the operators are allowed to engage in.

"True, the licenses do not explicitly say 'VoIP'. But 'Internet telephony, protocol talk, protocol Internet phone are nothing but VoIP," an APJII executive, who asked for anonymity, said at a recent media conference.

The executive regretted that the government had not asked the association to discussion the matter.

"We have never been involved in policy-making; suddenly it (the government) says there will be only five VoIP operators," he said.

He also criticized the appointment of Gaharu and Atlassat as VoIP operators, which he said did not follow a transparent tender process.

"We have never heard of them," the association said.

APJII legal advisor Hinca I.P Pandjaitan said the association had asked the government to explain to it the fate of the current VoIP operators once they are forced to cease operating after May 31.

He said the request was made early this year in a letter to Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar, whose ministry also oversees communications. The association received no response from the minister.

"It appears that the 12 operators will be forced to merge with one of the new license holders once the decree comes into effect," he told The Jakarta Post.

Turf war over VoIP services emerged as Telkom and Indosat saw in the technology a new threat to their current call services.

VoIP can slash phone bills by up to 70 percent for international calls compared to those made through Indosat's lines.

For example, a call to Hong Kong that would cost Rp 8,000 using Indosat's international call service costs Rp 2,000 through VoIP.

This inspired Telkom and Indosat to add VoIP to their services instead of compete against it.

Telkom VoIP director Endy Prijanto said its recently launched VoIP service TelkomSave boasted a monthly call traffic of 15 million minutes.

Most Telkom VoIP calls are made to destinations like Singapore, Australia, the United States, China and Hong Kong, according to Endy.

"This is a potential market so we need strategic steps to increase the traffic," he said.

He said Telkom signed last week an agreement with an America- based VoIP operator, that would improve the quality of phone calls made to the U.S.

Telkom's extensive fixed-line infrastructure has a traffic capacity of 50 million minutes a month, of which only a third was being utilized, he said.

"We plan to launch local VoIP some time in April to utilize our infrastructure," Endy said,

Indosat, meanwhile, plans to launch its VoIP services by the second quarter of this year, with VoIP installation completed in Jakarta, Medan, Surabaya and Batam.

Its subsidiary Satelindo launched its VoIP service last February, although it is presently limited to Jakarta residents and subscribers of its GSM postpaid service.