RI won't change stand at WTO's telecom talks
RI won't change stand at WTO's telecom talks
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will not change its stand in the final
round of the telecommunications negotiating group of the World
Trade Organization (WTO), scheduled to be begin in Geneva on
Friday, a senior official has said.
The secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications, Jonathan L. Parapak, said Indonesian
telecommunications policy would not be changed.
Indonesia would deliver its current policies and regulations
on telecommunications in the meeting, he said, and not make any
new announcements.
"I can't unveil the detail of our tabling yet as we still have
to coordinate when we arrive there. We'll leave for Geneva on
Wednesday night," Parapak told The Jakarta Post during a break in
a hearing at the House of Representatives between Minister of
Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave and the Commission
V on tourism, post and telecommunications, public works and
housing.
"We will just deliver the basic telecommunications conditions
in Indonesia including local, long distance and international
telecommunications, data switching, telex, telegraphs and
cellular. This will be a comprehensive report," said Parapak, who
is to represent Indonesia at the negotiating group.
A number of nations have been waiting for Indonesia to deliver
its position on telecommunications liberalization.
The deadline for an accord of the telecommunications pact is
Feb. 15, postponed from its original schedule of April 30, 1996.
Liberalization will take effect on Jan. 1, 1998. The WTO
estimates the world telecommunications market amounts to some
US$512 billion per year.
Telecommunications is one of three major issues of service
deregulation being sought through the WTO, in addition to
financial services and maritime transport.
Indonesia licenses five private joint ventures to install and
manage telecommunications networks in five operational regions of
the country, under a 15-year joint operation contracts until
2010. Leading world-class telecommunications operators
participate in the joint operation projects including France
Telecom, West Inc., Telstra of Australia, NTT of Japan, Cable and
Wireless of Britain and Singapore Telecom.
"Many developed countries were surprised when Indonesia
introduced the joint operation projects, involving overseas
world-class telecommunications operators," Minister Joop said
recently. "I also believe that the foreign operators involved in
this projects have their own interests."
"Welcome to the most open telecommunications industry in the
world," he said, referring to Indonesia's allowance of foreign
investment in the telecommunications industry.
In the cellular mobile telephone industry, Indonesia had also
allowed operators to be partly owned by foreign firms like
DeTeMobil of Germany, Dutch PTT Telecom Netherlands and Nynex of
the United States and Mitsui of Japan. (icn)