Only 501 districts in eastern region have phone lines

By Christiani S Tumelap

MAROS, South Sulawesi (JP): For many people living in remote areas, such as on mountain slopes and small islands, having a telephone installed is a dream come true.

Only about 50 percent, or about 501 of the 928 districts in the eastern provinces of Indonesia enjoy telecommunications facilities, according to data from PT Bukaka Singtel International (BSI), a partner of state telecommunications company PT Telkom responsible for telecommunications services in the eastern part of Indonesia.

Telephone lines have yet to be installed in many of the remaining 427 districts due to various factors, most notably geographic difficulties and insignificant demand, said BSI vice president Bugi Sjahrazad.

In order to overcome the geographical and technical problems in installing telephone facilities in remote and geographically difficult to access areas, BSI has introduced the satellite-based very small aperture terminal telecommunications system, he said.

"Satellite-based telephones serve better in remote areas than fixed telephone lines. It is also easier to install as it is transportable," he told journalists during a recent media visit to a BSI workstation in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.

BSI is one of Telkom's five partners in its joint operation scheme (KSO) appointed to finance, build and operate telephone services in Telkom's five regional divisions for the period of 15 years.

BSI is responsible for the eastern parts of Indonesia, while the other four partners; PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara, PT Ariawest International, PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (MGTI) and PT Cable & Wireless Mitratel, are responsible for Sumatra, West Java, Central Java and Kalimantan respectively.

Under the scheme, the five partners are required to pay Telkom a three-monthly fixed amount known as minimum Telkom revenue (MTR) and distributable Telkom revenue (DTR) based on their revenue.

Initial agreements required KSO partners to install a total of two million new access line units (ALU) across their work areas during a three-year construction period from 1996 to 1999.

The government revised the target to 1.2 million ALU in September 1998 due to the economic crisis.

KSO partners said they exceeded the installation target with approximately 1.37 million ALU installed across the five regions as of March 31. BSI, which uses ViSAT service as its trade mark, has so far installed 251,300 lines.

Bugi said BSI built its first ViSAT-based telephone service during the 1997 general election. This was mostly in South Sulawesi to help authorities in remote areas communicate with provincial governments regarding the elections.

"The ViSAT-based telephone services are operated by local people in the form of telecommunications kiosks. The operator is required to pay BSI, on behalf of Telkom, 85 percent of their revenue," he said.

He said the ViSAT-based telephone services had received a warm welcomed by locals owing to its charges being lower than those charged by telecommunications kiosks using regular fixed telephone lines.

BSI presently operates 179 ViSAT-based kiosks across its work areas, which comprised 10 provinces such as Sulawesi, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, East Timor, Maluku and Irian Jaya.

Most of the kiosks are located in Irian Jaya, which has 33, followed by South Sulawesi with 29, Maluku 22, North Sulawesi 20, Central Sulawesi 16. The remainders are in Bali, North Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi and East Timor.

Bugi said BSI would install at least 21 more ViSAT-based telecommunications kiosks by the end of the year.

He said the amount needed to build one ViSAT-based telecommunications kiosk was much more than installing one fixed telephone line.

"It takes US$8,000 to build one ViSAT line, compare to $1,000 for one fixed telephone line," he said. "But it's worthwhile because we have to keep people even in remote areas connected to others in different areas."

He said many people in remote areas expressed gratitude for being able to enjoy telecommunications facilities.

"Some of the areas have never had telephone services," he added.

Despite the fact that about half of the regions had yet to experience telecommunications technology, head of Telkom Division VII Eastern Indonesia Koesprawoto was upbeat about the increased demand for new telephone lines, especially fixed telephone lines.

He said the demand for new telephone lines in the areas had kept growing amid the economic crisis, which has rocked the country since mid-1997.

He said the average number of lines canceled by subscribers during the past years was fewer than the number of lines sold.

"The number of telephone lines canceled averages 1,000 per month per Telkom regional office, compared to 5,333 lines sold by each of the offices per month," he said.

"The crisis has not prompted business subscribers in most of the eastern region provinces to cancel their subscriptions since their business sectors, such as mining, oil and agriculture, have not been really affected by the crisis. The demand has never subsided," he added.

For example, Irian Jaya, where some big foreign and local enterprises run fish freezing and fish canning factories and mining, was scheduled to have some 2,000 new telephone lines installed in the next couple of months, he said.

Telkom data reveals the demand for the number of new telephone lines in the eastern regions of Indonesia increased from 362,911 lines in 1996 to 423,921 lines in 1997 and rose again to 478,609 lines in 1998. None of the 21 Telkom regional offices have experienced a decline in demand.

Koesprawoto predicted the demand for new telephone lines across the 10 provinces for the next five years would amount to at least 940,000 lines.

He said Telkom's Division VII as of March 31 collected approximately Rp 95.2 billion in revenue and projected to book about Rp 99 billion at the end of 1999 fiscal year.