PT Indosat will operate border-cross calls

JAKARTA (JP): PT Indosat, the state-owned international telecommunications operator, will begin operating border-cross calls next month, the business pioneered by the state-owned domestic telecommunications firm PT Telkom.

Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja told reporters here yesterday that based on a decree signed by Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave on March 21, Indosat will take over all the border-cross communications services operated by Telkom.

"Border-cross services are categorized as international telecommunications, and the business, therefore, should be operated by Indosat," he said.

He said the business includes the border-cross calls made from Batam, Tanjungpinang, Pekan Baru and Dumai in the southern part of Sumatra to Singapore and from Pontianak, Samarinda and Balikpapan in Kalimantan to Malaysia.

Starting on Sep. 20, people from Batam wishing to make calls to Singapore, for instance, will have to dial 001 (Indosat's international code) followed by 65 (the country code of Singapore), instead of just dialing 012, the code currently used by Telkom, he said.

Other areas which will be developed as border-cross areas include Nunukan in East Kalimantan to Tawao in Malaysia's Sabah, Manado in North Sulawesi to Davao in the Philippines, and Jayapura in Irian Jaya to Lae in Papua New Guinea.

According to Djakaria, the government thus far has only licensed Indosat to handle border-cross communications services and it is the only company operating international gate centers in the border-cross areas.

Exclusive ten-year rights to international telecommunications services in the country were given to Indosat and PT Satelindo. Under a decree issued last March, the government may license another company after the two licenses expire in 2005.

"Satelindo can also serve border-cross communications as soon as the company owns and operates international gateway centers in border areas," Djakaria said.

He said that Indosat has already paid asset compensation worth Rp 4.14 billion (US$1.82 million) to Telkom for the service takeover.

Meanwhile, Telkom's operation and marketing director, Dadad Kustiwa, said yesterday that Telkom gained about Rp 14 billion ($6.18) in revenues just from Batam-Singapore calls in the last 1994-95 fiscal year.

"The growth rate in the Batam-Singapore calls is about 10 percent per year," he said, adding that he did not remember how much Telkom earned from other border-cross areas.

Indosat's president, Tjahjono Soerjodibroto, said that his company will temporally maintain the service fees charged by Telkom.

"The fee for Batam-Singapore calls will be the same, Rp 1,000 per minute. Any calls to Singapore made from another place in areas around Batam will also be the same, Rp 2,000 per minute," he said.

He said that calling fees could be reduced if Indosat and its related-counterparts can reach accords similar to the Singapore- Malaysia-Indonesia and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand growth areas, where special discounts of 20 percent are available. (icn)