No guarantees on int'l telecoms

No guarantees on int'l telecoms

JAKARTA (JP): The government might let other companies,
besides PT Indosat and PT Satelindo, operate international
telecommunications services after 2005, the minister of Tourism,
Post and Telecommunications, Joop Ave, said yesterday.

"The government has granted the 10-year exclusive rights to
the two firms, but it doesn't mean that we won't license any
other firms after the rights expire in 2005," Joop said.

Joop was speaking after delivering a speech at a seminar on
the impacts and opportunities of the telecommunications business
in Indonesia in the free market era.

He said the two companies could keep the rights if they could
still run the business well.

State-owned Indosat, which is listed on the Jakarta and New
York stock exchanges, is Indonesia's major international
telecommunications operator. Last year 91.3 percent of the
company's Rp 1.22 trillion operating revenue came from
international calls.

Indosat had 91.2 percent share of Indonesia's international
call market last year.

Satelindo, a private firm set up in 1993, runs international
calls, a satellite service and the GSM cellular telephone
service. Last year the company had just under 9 percent of the
international call market.

Satelindo's GSM service generated Rp 360 billion in revenue
last year or 60 percent of total revenue. The satellite and
international call service each made up 20 percent of total
revenue.

Joop denied Indonesia was a nation applying unfair treatment
based on last February's World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement
in Geneva to open up world telecommunications markets.

The global telecommunications pact will take effect on Jan. 1.
The WTO estimates the world telecommunications market is worth
more than US$600 billion a year.

"This is not about fair or unfair," he said, but refused to
explain this.

The secretary-general of the ministry of tourism, post and
telecommunications, Jonathan L. Parapak, told yesterday's seminar
that in the global and free market, the government must
anticipate rapidly-growing information technology.

"There will probably be an overseas operator of a satellite-
based personal communications system operating its business in
Indonesia without being physically and legally present in the
country and we can do nothing."

But he said the WTO telecommunication agreement had been
finalized and that each signatory was required to treat other
members equally. (icn)