PT Indosat will operate border-cross calls

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)