Number of cellular users falls

JAKARTA (JP): The number of cellular users in Indonesia dropped by 26.8 percent to 762,602 as of September this year from around one million in September last year, the state telecommunication firm PT Telkom said on Wednesday.

The company said that Komselindo, the operator of the Advance Mobile Phone System (AMPS) recorded the biggest drop of 56 percent from 114,000 subscribers to 50,165 subscribers.

The second was Mobisel, the operator of the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), recording a 54.6 percent drop to 14,000 subscribers from 30,847 users.

Other operators, Satelindo suffered a 45.3 percent decline to 201,341 users from 368,110, Excelcomindo's users declined by 41.4 percent to 65,648 from 111,000 and Telesera's subscribers dropped by 3.1 percent to 6,439 from 6,542 users in September last year.

There are seven cellular phone providers in the country, operating three systems: the AMPS, the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and the NMT.

Unlike the other six, GSM operator Telkomsel booked a 5.9 percent growth to 394,625 subscribers as of September from 372,698 in September last year. (gis)