PT Telkomsel to launch new integrated network

PT Telkomsel to launch new integrated network

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkomsel, a global system for mobile
communication (GSM) operator, will launch an integrated customer
service and multimedia network -- called Claudia -- in Jakarta on
Sunday.

Customer operation manager Johan Kuilenberg said Telkomsel had
invested US$8 million in Claudia's development and would invest
another $8 million by the end of 1997.

Operators of Telkomsel's Customer Care on Line (abbreviated to
Caroline) will operate Claudia, which is to provide 24-hour
interactive service using the latest multimedia technology.

He said this service would enable Caroline operators to see on
the computer terminals all details necessary to answer customers'
questions anywhere in Indonesia.

For example, Claudia could help one operator answer 90 percent
of all in-coming calls.

According to director of commerce Ardhin Ichwan, the company
had started the trial phase of the system on Batam Island, Riau,
while the pilot project in Jakarta would follow this Sunday.
Telkomsel expected to serve 18 more cities by the end of the
year.

He said Telkomsel would also increase the number of its base
transceiver stations (BTS) in Greater Jakarta from 156 to 535 and
throughout the Indonesian archipelago -- including Lhokseumawe in
Aceh and Timika in Irian Jaya -- from around 450 to 1,354 by the
end of this year.

Their locations would still be prioritized in business areas
rather than tourists resorts, he said.

The company currently has about 220,000 subscribers, as
compared to 186,500 last December. The company aims to have
400,000 by the end of this year.

In Jakarta, the key market for cellular operators, Telkomsel
has about 80,000 subscribers, 10,000 more than in December last
year.

Telkomsel's finance director, Hulman Sidjabat, said the
company earned Rp 51 billion from its operation and interest on
deposits in 1996. He refused to specify whether or not the
company made a profit last year.

But he said the company expected to break even this year and
to make a profit in 1998.

Telkomsel is 42.72 percent owned by the state-owned PT Telkom,
35 percent by state-owned PT Indosat, 17.28 percent by PTT
Telecom of the Netherlands and 5 percent by businessman Setiawan
Djody's Setdco Megacell Asia. Telkomsel's competitors are PT
Excelmindo Pratama and PT Satelindo. (10)