PT Satelindo expands its roaming service

PT Satelindo expands its roaming service

JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelindo, one of Indonesia's three operators
of the global system for mobile communication (GSM), has expanded
its roaming service into 34 countries in cooperation with 53
overseas operators.

Satelindo's director, Saleh Gunawan, said here yesterday the
roaming service expansion allowed Satelindo GSM to be used in
countries including Russia, China, Macau, Saudi Arabia and
Lebanon.

"Only one kind of subscriber identity module (SIM) card is
needed for the international and domestic roaming services," he
said.

Satelindo has 275,000 subscribers and was the first GSM
operator in Indonesia. PT Telkomsel and PT Excelcomindo are also
GSM operators.

Satelindo operates in 150 Indonesian cities. This is expected
to double by the end of this year.

Saleh said users would have to pay higher rates because
roaming service billing systems were complicated and expensive.

GSM roaming service users can receive and make calls anywhere
in the world as long as there are roaming service agreements
between operators in the respective countries, he said.

GSM operators in Indonesia must provide the service to compete
with other cellular telephone providers, he said. Luring
subscribers by cutting rates is nearly impossible here because
the government sets prices.

But GSM users will be charged 15 percent over international
call rates if they receive calls abroad. The caller in Indonesia
will pay only domestic rates.

Saleh said Satelindo's service covered the country's 27
provinces.

Satelindo has invested Rp 2 trillion (approximately US$834
million) since it started in January 1993. It was supplied by
France's Alcatel and Germany's Siemens, he said.

Satelindo, a joint venture set up by state-owned PT Telkom, PT
Indosat, PT Bimagraha Telekomindo and DeTeMobil of Germany, also
operates Palapa-C satellites and 008 international calls. (icn)