PT Telkom awards $200m telecommunications deals

PT Telkom awards $200m telecommunications deals

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkom yesterday awarded contracts worth
US$200 million to Siemens AG of Germany for the supply,
installation and commissioning of telecommunication equipment in
collaboration with two other state-owned companies.

Setyanto P. Santosa, the president of Telkom, the state-owned
domestic telecommunications company, told reporters after signing
the contract agreements at the Jakarta Fair grounds yesterday
that Siemens will bring the latest technology, while the
equipment will be largely produced by its Indonesian partners --
the state-owned aircraft manufacturer PT INTI and the state-owned
electronic equipment company PT LEN.

INTI and LEN are based in Bandung, West Java, and supervised
by the country's Board for the Supervision of Strategic
Industrial Board (BPIS).

Setyanto explained that one contract covers the provision of
digital switching equipment for about 430,000 line units and its
associated line transmission equipment in more than 120
locations.

"The other contract requires the provision of digital radio
and optical fiber trunk and multiplexing equipment in some 360
locations," he said, adding that the installation of the
equipment will start early next year.

On Wednesday, Telkom also signed a $1 million contract with
the U.S.-based AT&T for the supply and installation of digital
telephone system equipped with an administrative module work
station (AWS).

An AT&T executive, Peter Lohman, said that the project will be
the first AWS sale and the most compact exchange system to be
supplied by his company in Indonesia.

He said that the project will be used to provide regional
telecommunications exchanges in Gombong and Muntilan, both in
Central Java, for nearly 3,000 additional subscribers.(icn)