PT Telekomindo upgrades networks

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti, an Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) analog cellular telephone operator, plans to improve its service by upgrading its networks into the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.

"We will select by the end of this year a suppliers out of three companies participating in the CDMA tender," Telekomindo's vice president Peter Djatmiko said here over the weekend.

He said that the three companies included Celcore, Motorola and Lucent, all of the United States.

Besides Telekomindo, a subsidiary of the Rajawali group which is controlled by Peter Sondakh, there are two other AMPS operators in Indonesia; PT Metrosel and PT Komselindo.

Komselindo will also later this year choose a CDMA supplier out of Samsung of South Korea, Lucent and Motorola.

CDMA, already approved by the government to be applied in Indonesia, is originally developed in the U.S. The system is being adopted around the world as the wireless industry standard to deliver digital cellular and personal communications services.

Peter said that Telekomindo's the project of CDMA, to offer economical, clear and secure wireless communications, will cost about US$50 million.

Peter said that Telekomindo, currently has some 8,000 AMPS users, in Bali, Kalimantan and southern Sumatra, expects to run CDMA in late 1997. (icn)