Prepaid SIM cards increase in fame

JAKARTA (JP): Cellular phone users watching their pocketbooks are increasingly preferring the prepaid subscriber identity module (SIM) card over the monthly billing system, an industry executive said on Monday.

Kusnadi Sukarja, the director for sales and marketing of PT Excelcomindo Pratama, said the demand was an indication of consumer need to monitor expenditures.

"The prepaid SIM card has become increasingly popular because it allows users to control their bills. It is also more practical," Kusnadi said at a news conference on the launching of Excelcomindo Pratama's new service for prepaid SIM cards subscribers.

He said prepaid SIM cards users did not have to deal with complicated procedures for identity documents which were required for the billing system.

Kusnadi said his company, the operator of the global system of mobile communications (GSM) GSM-XL, recorded rapid growth in the number of subscribers of its prepaid SIM card Pro-XL since its launching in April.

"Pro-XL subscribers reach over 100,000 subscribers, exceeding the GSM-XL subscribers."

Kusnadi said Excelcomindo suffered a 30 percent decline in the number of users of its SIM card GSM-XL, which operates under a billing system, this year.

"Our GSM-XL users are currently more than 70,000 subscribers, a drop by about 30 percent compared to over 100,000 subscribers last year."

He attributed the downturn to the economic crisis and rising cellular phone rates.

"Many people have stopped using their phones because they could not afford to pay their bills anymore."

Excelcomindo's Corporate Communications Manager V. Elisawati said the sharp drop was partly due the company's recent move to suspend services to subscribers behind in bill payments.

She dismissed the suggestion that former billing system card users composed the bulk of those shifting to the prepaid card, saying they accounted for only 5 percent of the number.

Excelcomindo launched on Monday Tele Pro-XL, which enables its Pro-XL subscribers to refill their SIM cards by charging payment to either Visa or Mastercard credit cards or a Bank Bali account.

"Pro-XL subscribers only have to dial 188 using their mobiles, and give their credit card number or Bank Bali account number to get a 14-digit secret code. The secret codes can then be used to refill the pulses of their pro-XL card," Kusnadi said.

"It is our effort to facilitate services to our Pro-XL subscribers amid the rapid growth of prepaid SIM card subscribers."

Excelcomindo is the youngest of Indonesia's three GSM operators which also includes PT Telkomsel and PT Satelindo. It is owned by Nynex Corp of the United States, Mitsui of Japan, the Asian Infrastructure Fund and Indonesia's PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti.

Excelcomindo, which operates in Greater Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali and Lombok, began operating in late 1996. (gis)