PT Telkom to run multimedia trial operation
JAKARTA (JP): State telecommunications carrier PT Telkom will launch the trial operation of its multimedia services later this year before operating the facility commercially in 1998, an executive said yesterday.
Telkom's greater Jakarta general manager Guntur Siregar said during a breaking of the fast gathering at the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Monday that the trial operation would focus on Central Jakarta.
"With only three telecommunications hubs, in Cikini, Gambir and Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta is less complicated compared with other areas in the city," he said.
"Meanwhile, Telkom has replaced its copper cable networks in Central Jakarta with fiber optic trunks," he said.
By the end of the year Telkom will have laid a 30,000 line fiber optic network in Central Jakarta, the company announced recently.
Siregar said the fiber optic network would enable Telkom to operate its Intelligent Network (IN) and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) services more quickly.
ISDN and IN, locally known as Pasopati and Japati, are among the sophisticated information and telecommunications technology services which support Multimedia services.
"Since we have adopted Pasopati and Japati, the multimedia services have been smoother," Siregar said.
He said prospective Multimedia services included video-on- demand and cable television (CATV).
Telkom president Asman A. Nasution recently said the company planned to create a subsidiary to set up CATV networks using fiber optic networks.
Telkom has a 35 percent stake in PT Telemedia Indonesia, a multimedia company set up last year to provide news, videos, audio services, home shopping and games on demand.
Siregar said the multimedia trial operation was part of a feasibility study being conducted by Telemedia.
He refused to give further information on the Multimedia business.
Besides Telkom, Telemedia shareholders are the Rajawali Group's PT Telekomindo Prima Bhakti (25 percent), private TV station RCTI (20 percent) and the Bimantara Group's PT Asriland (20 percent). (icn)