Relocation, tender of 3G key to industry
Relocation, tender of 3G key to industry
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State revenue from the telecommunications industry will increase
once the government expedites the relocation of Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) operators currently operating on third
generation (3G) frequencies, an industry executive says.
Apart from the relocation, the acceleration of the tender
process for the 3G bandwidth frequencies is also urgent for the
industry, said Jim Glinski, the president director of telecom
equipment provider PT Alcatel Indonesia.
Describing the telecommunications industry in Indonesia as one
of the world's most deregulated, he said many telecommunications
providers and operators were waiting for the relocation and the
bidding to expand their business activities here.
"I think if the allocations and the issuance of licenses was
done faster, this would of course help the development of the
business," Glinski told The Jakarta Post last week.
Although some companies are still conducting trial operations
of the 3G system, not yet for commercial purposes, business will
be booming in the coming years after the government has decided
the winners of the tender, Glinski predicted.
The Alcatel executive, who has been located at the company's
headquarters in Paris since 1997, said there was still huge
growth potential for the GSM-standard generation and the 2.5G or
the GPRS technology, although the 3G was much more advanced.
"I heard hundreds of thousands of 3G phones were sold in
Indonesia without the 3G service, because people buy it as some
kind of status symbol," he said.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has ordered all
CDMA operators -- including Flexi and Indosat's StarOne -- which
have a bandwidth of between 1,920 HMz and 1,990 Mhx to cease
using their frequencies as the frequencies will be allocated to
operators with the introduction of 3G technology to the country.
In the meantime, after several delays, the government is
scheduled to open in November bidding for the frequencies and
licenses for 3G bandwith.
The cash-trapped government expects about Rp 5 trillion
(US$500 million) in revenue from the provision of frequencies and
licenses.
The government has already granted 3G licenses to two
companies though they are still not operational.
Meanwhile, when asked about problems his company is facing in
doing business in Indonesia, the Polish-born executive replied:
"Frankly speaking there are no big problems. Those we do have are
more general problems -- but this is something that we share
together with others."