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)