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)