PT Komselindo prepares int'l roaming service

PT Komselindo prepares int'l roaming service

JAKARTA (JP): PT Komselindo, one of the country's analog
cellular telecommunications operators, is preparing a new service
to allow subscribers to use their handsets in foreign countries.

Komselindo's Commercial Director Zen Smith said here yesterday
that his company is still finalizing negotiations with TAC of
Thailand, Telstra of Australia and Mobicom of Malaysia for
international roaming service agreements.

The service will allow Komselindo's subscribers to make as
well as receive calls when they are abroad.

Komselindo is 65 percent owned by PT Elektrindo Nusantara, a
subsidiary of the Bimantara Group, and 35 percent by the state-
owned domestic telecommunications operator PT Telkom. The company
operates cellular mobile telecommunications using the advanced
mobile phone service (AMPS) in West Java, North Sumatra and
Sulawesi.

Smith acknowledged that Komselindo, as an AMPS operator, is a
bit behind the digital cellular telecommunications operators
using the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
technology. The other AMPS operators in Indonesia include PT
Telekomindo and PT Centralindo Panca Sakti.

Meanwhile, two out of the three GSM operators in Indonesia, PT
Satelindo and PT Telkomsel, have already completed international
roaming agreements with a number of foreign operators.

"But as an AMPS operator, Komselindo will expand together with
the country's other operators since AMPS is the world's most
popular system. Moreover, AMPS can be developed into a digital
system called code division multiple access (CDMA)," Smith said.

In cooperation with AT&T of the United States, Komselindo is
currently conducting a trial wireless network using CDMA
technology in Bandung.

"The government has yet to decide whether the CDMA will be
applied in Indonesia or not. The trial operation is being
conducted in anticipation of the possibility of the system being
used in the country," he added.

Even though Komselindo may eventually operate CDMA, it will
not abandon the AMPS system in order to continue serving all of
its customers.

He said that Komselindo had allocated an investment of US$40
million for its business expansion.

"New and more infrastructures are under installation. We are
set to increase number of subscribers to 95,000 by April 1996,"
he said.

There are 13 agents cooperating with Komselindo in marketing
the handsets in Indonesia. The following agents are distributors
of branded handsets: Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Ericsson, Phillips,
Mitsubishi, JRC, Panasonic, Audiovox, Hitachi, Oki, Cellstar and
Goldstar. (icn)