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)