Reaching out to mobile phone customers

The market for mobile telephones is a highly competitive one, as more and more players enter the arena. Despite the fact that no price war is currently possible -- thanks to strict government regulations -- operators do compete in coming up with innovative services for their customers. In a fast-moving marketplace such as this one, "follow the leader" is by no means an adequate approach to ensuring survival. "We have no choice but to be totally customer-focused," says Zen Smith, Komselindo's Director for Marketing and Business Development.

Indeed, Komselindo never stops inventing new and creative ways to serve its customers and ensure their satisfaction. "The basic services are no longer attractive to our customers," Smith adds. "The services that we offer are not necessarily what they want, therefore we should always listen closely to their wishes."

Nonetheless, adding new features alone will not necessarily make the customers happy. Komselindo also makes sure that every complaint that its customers have is handled in a truly professional way, and the company spares no effort in maintaining quality services.

"Within the Jakarta area, our men drive around in shifts 24 hours a day to test the quality of connections and look for trouble spots," explains Paryasto Prodjosoemarto, Komselindo's director of operations. To provide service coverage for the entire city, Komselindo has constructed no fewer than 82 cells -- each with its own Radio Base Station, or RBS. The performance of each RBS has to be constantly monitored and adjustments of various parameters have to be made to ensure optimal operation.

Naturally, at the national level, service coverage is continuously expanded to make sure that customers have access to the phone network no matter where they are located in Indonesia. But coverage is not the only important consideration that customers have in mind when choosing which cellular operator to subscribe to. They also look for sophisticated features in the services being offered to them.

Komselindo does provide a number of such features. First, there is Call Waiting. This feature enables a Komselindo customer to receive another call while he is using his phone; all he has to do is ask the person on the other end to wait as he checks the second call. With this facility, he will be able to prioritize the order in which he receives his calls.

Next, there is Three-party Calling for those who need to discuss matters in an efficient way over the phone. Follow Me frees customers from worries that they might miss an important call, as their calls will follow them wherever they go.

Sometimes, customers wish not to be disturbed as they are, for instance, in the middle of a very important board meeting. Private Voice Mail is a facility that allows their callers to leave voice messages for them to listen to when they are ready. Messages are kept in the Voice Mailboxes for 12 hours. Even for those who are not yet very fluent in Bahasa Indonesia, an option is available by which they can enjoy all of Komselindo's services in English.

The company goes one step further in providing five-star services by ensuring that their customers are protected. K-Prosel is a feature that protects them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Based on software that was developed in-house, K-Prosel enables Komselindo's customers to program their own PIN, thereby making sure that no illegal calls can be made using their handphones or access number.

To complement this security feature, the company also utilizes the Automatic Fraud Control Systems, or AFCS. This mechanism will automatically detect any suspicious calls, such as two calls that are made using two different handphones from two different locations but with the same access number. Each time the AFCS comes across a situation like this, it will block the number until its rightful owner calls the station and clears things up. This feature clearly reduces the risk of financial loss and privacy violation caused by cloning.

The cellular phone service does not come cheap, however. Therefore, customers will certainly appreciate the ability to keep track of their phone bills. Komselindo knows this all too well, and the company will begin implementation of the new billing management of Komselindo, or BIMAKOM, in one month's time. Distributed over a dedicated network, BIMAKOM will make it possible for all customers to obtain data of their monthly bills. "Our customer can even find out the charge for the call he has just made," says Naufal Ali, Komselindo's General Manager for Finance. This feature is very much needed by, among others, entrepreneurs who are interested in starting their cellular phone rental businesses.

Taking advantage of this on-line billing system, customers can also specify the limit for their monthly usage, thereby giving themselves peace of mind in knowing that their phone bill will not grow out of control and will stay within their planned budget. This limit also has a flexibility in it; customers can easily request an adjustment if there is an urgent call to be made after the limit is reached.

Since we now live in the Internet era, BIMAKOM can also be accessed via the Internet. In order to make this service available, Komselindo signed a contract with RadNet, one of Indonesia's leading Internet service providers, on May 8, 1996.

Cellular phone users tend to be highly mobile, too. To ensure the highest level of flexibility, a roaming arrangement has been set up between the three AMPS operators in Indonesia. This enables a Komselindo customer to roam into the service area of another AMPS operator without losing the ability to make or receive phone calls.

Finally, what happens if a customer has to relocate because of a new assignment from his company, for example? Will he have to discontinue his subscription to one AMPS operator and then go through the costly registration process with the operator in his new location? He will not. All he will have to do is obtain a "release" statement from his old cellular operator and he will automatically become a subscriber to the new operator. Such is the arrangement between the operators to ensure that their customers' initial investment in a AMPS cellular handphone is perfectly protected. That is certainly an important factor to consider from the customer's point of view. (zia)