PT Excelcomindo Pratama builds fiber optic network

JAKARTA (JP): PT Excelcomindo Pratama, a private global system for mobile (GSM) operator, is installing a 2,000-kilometer fiber optic network along railway lines in Java belonging to state railway firm Perumka.

Excelcomindo president Julius S. Djohan said Wednesday that the US$100 million project would be completed before the end of this year.

He said that a consortium of Fujitsu and Tomen of Japan and domestic firm PT Tripatra were supplying equipment, such as radio transmission devices, and developing the project.

Under the government's regulations in the Fundamental Technical Plan, which is amended annually by the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications, private telecommunications firms may install their own networks but they cannot lease their infrastructure to other parties. This is designed to protect the state telecommunications firm PT Telkom.

Julius said the 2,000-kilometer fiber optic network, to link Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java, would support the company's existing microwave networks.

Excelcomindo, which goes by the GSM-XL brand, now has 25,000 users. "We expect to have 150,000 users by 1997," Julius said.

The company is the youngest of the country's three GSM operators. GSM, the most recent system to be introduced domestically, is also operated by PT Telkomsel and PT Satelindo.

Meanwhile, the Swedish telecommunications group LM Ericsson AB will launch next March its newest product, the GF-788, claimed to be among the smallest GSM handsets.

Franky Prionggo, a manager of PT Ericsson Indonesia, the marketing arm of the Ericsson group, said Wednesday that the dimensions of the new terminal were 160mm in height, 50mm in width and 24mm in length and that its weight was just 125 grams, including the battery.

Ericsson now offers the popular GF-388, which is 130mm tall, 49mm wide, 23mm in length and 175 grams in weight. The company recently introduced the AF-738, one of the smallest analog handsets.

The cellular terminal market in Indonesia is controlled by Motorola, Nokia and Ericsson. (icn)