New Internet provider eyes 30 cities

New Internet provider eyes 30 cities

JAKARTA (JP): A new Internet provider, PT Meganusa
Lintasbuana, announced yesterday that it will offer its
information superhighway service, called MegaNet, in 30 cities.

The company's president, Darsono, said at the launching of its
MegaNet service that his company expects to establish Internet
links with 30 cities in 27 provinces, including Dili in East
Timor, within the next eight months.

"We are prioritizing cities which have not yet been touched by
other Internet providers," Darsono said.

After building MegaNet links next month in Jakarta and in
Surabaya, East Java, Darsono said his company will expand its
services to Palembang in South Sumatra, Balikpapan in East
Kalimantan and Ujung Pandang in South Sulawesi in May.

"We will also reach cities like Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi,
Dili, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara and Bengkulu," Darsono said.

His company hopes to attract 30 new Internet users per month
for each city outside Jakarta and Surabaya. It expects 120 new
users a month for Jakarta and 60 new users a month for Surabaya.

It is estimated that presently there are about 15,000 Internet
users in Indonesia. Globally, the Internet reaches over 40
million users and is growing at a rate of over 10 percent a
month.

In addition to Meganusa, other Internet providers in Indonesia
include PT Cyberindo Aditama (CBNet), PT Indo Internet (Indonet),
PT Aplikanusa Lintasartha (Idola), PT Rajasa Media (Radnet) and
PT Sistelindo Mitralintas (Inet).

Meganusa, established with a paid-up capital of Rp 600 million
(US$256,960), charges each individual user a registration fee of
Rp 40,000 and a subscription fee of Rp 40,000 per 10 hours of
use. The company gives a 50 percent discount to students.

Meanwhile, Sun Microsystems of the United States, one of the
Internet's proponents, announced yesterday the presence of its
Java language programing for the Internet and HotJava interactive
browser in Indonesia.

The company's electronic commerce industry manager, Y.K. Mak,
said since its launching in May last year, Java has been used to
create hundreds of "applets", or small applications which can be
downloaded across a network and be run locally. (rid)