PT Pos prepares Internet kiosks

JAKARTA (JP): State postal enterprise PT Pos Indonesia will introduce electronic information services in the country's major cities in February 1997.

Company president Cahyana Ahmadjayadi said Tuesday users can use the service to promote their businesses or to get information about market potentials both at home and overseas.

"We target small-scale companies as the main market of the new service," he said after signing an agreement with the small-scale industry development agency (Bapik).

Bapik agreed to become the first subscriber of the postal company's electronic information services, called Warsi.

"By the year 2000, 300 post offices in 280 big and small cities in Indonesia will be equipped with Warsi facilities," he said.

He said PT Pos Indonesia would invest Rp 5 million for a Warsi, which will provide home pages for the small-scale industries at reasonable prices.

"All Internet users all over the world are able to access Warsi to learn about the products from Indonesia's small-scale industries," he said. He said Warsi was applied by using Pos Indonesia's Internet service called Wasantaranet.

He said that Warsi would be reachable at http://www.warsi.wasantara.net.id.

"Small-scale businesses have good products, but many of them have a poor marketing and promotion system. Through Warsi, we hope to help promote them," Cahyana said.

He said that in addition to the home-page service, Warsi would also offer other Internet services including E-mail, electronic money transferring and information on service, commodity and packaging distribution.

"This will be trade points, not just service points. We help small-scale businesspeople get transactions, including those from the international market, through Warsi."

He said Bapik currently grouped millions of potential small- scale businesspeople all over Indonesia.

Through the new service, Pos Indonesia would continue to serve the public, but also diversify its business, he said.

"But we are not abandoning our core business. We are streamlining our services as well by applying high information and electronic systems."

Cahyana said his company would see higher profits this year.

"Pos Indonesia expects to gain Rp 67.89 billion (US$28.7 million) in profits this year, up 19.7 percent from Rp 56.7 billion last year. Our revenues are projected to increase this year by 11.5 percent to Rp 559.12 billion from Rp 501.4 billion in 1995."

He said Pos Indonesia has launched a series of improvement programs. "The first phase, from 1995 to 1997, is the consolidation and modernization program. The second phase, from 1998 to 2000, is the growth program and the last one, from 2000 to 2003, is the total solution program."

Pos Indonesia currently operates 4,798 offices, 3,272 vehicular service units and 8,654 service points all over the country.

Cahyana said the company would handle 600 million letters and 11 million money transfer transactions, worth Rp 1.1 trillion, this year. (icn)