RI still a promising market, says Alcatel
RI still a promising market, says Alcatel
JAKARTA (JP): The French giant telecommunication company
Alcatel announced yesterday that it would strengthen its presence
in Indonesia as it believed the country's telecommunication
market remained promising despite the crisis.
"Alcatel reaffirms its strong commitment to Indonesia and will
continue to strengthen its position here," Alcatel South Asia
President Ron Spithill told reporters.
Spithill said Indonesia had delayed several telecommunication
projects as part of austerity measures to cope with the crisis,
but the country's telecommunication market would grow by 10 to 20
percent due to continuing demand for the latest telecommunication
technology.
Indonesia's peak growth of between 25 and 30 percent in the
telecommunication sector during the past three years was well
above the world's telecommunication growth of 10 percent during
the same period, he said.
Alcatel predicted Indonesia would soon overcome the crisis to
resume peak growth in the telecommunication sector, he said.
The company has made some investment plans in Indonesia for
the next few years, but Spithill refused to reveal the details.
Second largest
He said Indonesia was Alcatel's second largest Asian market,
after China, with company's Indonesian operations generating
annual revenues of US$800 million, including $500 million from
the telecommunication sector.
Alcatel is one of Indonesia's major supplier of
telecommunication equipment and services. Customers include state
telecommunication companies Telkom and Indosat as well as private
companies like Satelindo, Komselindo and others. Its
telecommunication products include microwave, optical and
submarine cables and satellites.
Alcatel, which started operating in Indonesia 25 years ago, is
also engaged in energy, transportation and defense, but
telecommunication remains its core business.
Alcatel has established PT Alcatel Indonesia as a head office
to supervise its Indonesian operations, which include three joint
ventures -- PT Alcatel Enkomindo, PT Cable Indonesia and PT
Submarine Komunikasi Utama.
Alcatel Indonesia President Jean Asmar said Alcatel Enkomindo,
a telecommunication project-management company, is 70 percent
owned by Alcatel, with the remaining 30 percent owned by PT
Elektrindo Nusantara, the Bimantara group's telecommunication
arm.
Cable Indonesia, a fiber-optic-cable manufacturing company, is
70 percent owned by Alcatel and 30 percent by the state
engineering company PT Inti.
This company's manufacturing plant in Cikampek, West Java, now
under construction, would come on stream next month with a
production capacity of 150,000 kilometers of land fiber optic
cables per year, Asmar said.
Submarine Komunikasi Utama is engaged in submarine fiber optic
cable installation and maintenance. The company is 70 percent
owned by Alcatel and 30 percent by Elektrindo Nusantara.
Alcatel Indonesia and Alcatel's joint ventures hire about 900
staff, including 80 expatriate engineers.
The company would not lay off its workers during the crisis
but would reduce the number of expatriates as part of the
company's long-term plan to replace foreign experts with locals
under know-how transfer scheme, Asmar said. (jsk)