Ratelindo falls behind in cellular phones

Ratelindo falls behind in cellular phones

JAKARTA (JP): People living far away from telephone cable
infrastructures will have to wait a bit longer to use fixed-
cellular radio telephones as 50,000 necessary lines will not be
installed as scheduled.

PT Radio Telephone Indonesia (Ratelindo), a telecommunications
operator 55 percent controlled by PT Bakrie Electronics Company
(BEC) of the Bakrie Group and 45 percent by the state-owned PT
Telkom, originally planned to introduce cellular digital radio
telephones (CDRL), the first of their kind to be built in the
country, late last year.

The project will allow people to subscribe to telephone lines
even though Telkom has not developed regular telecommunications
infrastructures in certain parts of the Jakarta greater area.

CDRL will use radio frequency, not cables, in its
communications system.

Hardianto Kamarga, Ratelindo's top executive, told reporters
here yesterday that the delay was caused by technical and
administrative problems, and not financially-related.

He refused to disclose the starting date of the operation.

Originally, Ratelindo, supported by the Hughes Network System
of the United States, planned to introduce 5,000 CDRL lines by
last December and to have installed 45,000 more lines by next
month.

Ratelindo has allocated some US$80 million for the CDRL
project, which will include 21 base transceiver stations and
250,000 telephone lines in Jakarta and West Java.(icn)