Overdue telephone bills ring up Rp 9b monthly

JAKARTA (JP): Overdue telephone bills in the greater Jakarta area total about Rp 9 billion per month (about US$1 million), or 4 percent of total billings, an executive of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom said on Monday.

The percentage is small but its value is significant, said Guntur Siregar, head of the firm's Jakarta branch.

"We usually isolate their telephones so they could only receive calls. Telephone facilities return to normal only after they pay their overdue bills," Guntur said after the inauguration of a customer service center on Jl. D.I. Panjaitan in East Jakarta by A.A. Nasution, the company's president.

The center, built at a cost of Rp 800 million, is the city's fifth. It provides an information counter, 10 service counters, an automatic teller machine, a bank counter and a mini shop.

Guntur said delinquent customers usually paid their bills in the following months after company employees issued reminders over the phone or visited their houses.

Only a few lines are cut off due to late payment, he said.

The largest percentage of telephone customers postponing payment are households with relatively high bills of about Rp 350,000 monthly, he added.

Guntur said 11 percent of telephone customers paid between the dates of the 20th and 30th of the month, with 85 percent of the customers paying their bills on time on the due date of the 20th.

"I hope not," Guntur responded when asked if he believed overdue bills, which are roughly the same amount as last year, would rise due to a Feb. 1 rate hike.

The government announced on Jan. 30 an increase in rates for local calls and overseas and domestic long-distance services by up to 46.67 percent.

Telkom raised its rates for domestic long-distance calls by 28.57 percent to Rp 144 per pulse, local calls by 24.14 percent to Rp 180 per pulse and telephone magnetic card services by 46.67 percent to Rp 220 per pulse.

One pulse lasts from seven seconds up to three minutes depending on the destination distance and time of the call.

New rates for long-distance calls made during the most expensive hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays are Rp 90 per minute within a 20-kilometer radius, Rp 120 for a 20-kilometer to 30-kilometer radius, Rp 1,545 for 30 kilometers to 200 kilometers, Rp 160 per minute for 200 kilometers to 500 kilometers, and Rp 2,700 for a distance of over 500 kilometers.

He did not foresee customers being shocked by their upcoming phone bills and taking their protests to local telephone offices. (jun)