Satelindo customers given e-mail access from cell phones

Satelindo customers given e-mail access from cell phones

JAKARTA (JP): Cellular service operator PT Satelit Palapa
Indonesia (Satelindo) launched its SMS-based e-mail notification
service on Monday, enabling its customers to retrieve e-mail from
their handsets.

Satelindo vice resident for cellular services marketing and
product management Tien Thinh Pham said that with the new
service, both its post-paid Satelindo GSM customers and pre-paid
Mentari customers could keep track of their e-mail without having
to go on-line.

"Satelindomail can keep track of your e-mail account at any
web-based e-mail service, whether it is Yahoo, Hotmail, or
others," he said.

Through short message service (SMS), Satelindomail informs its
customer of the e-mail sender, the subject, and the opening
sentence of the message.

"It is limited to only 160 characters because that's the
maximum length for an SMS message," Pham explained.

In addition to receiving e-mail notification, the service also
allows customers to send e-mail from their handsets, he said,
adding that the address shown on the message will be
0816xxxxxx@satelindogsm.com or 0815xxxxxx@satelindogsm.com,
depending on the mobile phone number.

"The customer needs to register at our website
www.satelindo.co.id to activate the service," Pham said.

Customers of Satelindo's post-paid and pre-paid services can
also access services similar to wireless application protocol
(WAP) on their handset, he said.

"We are aware that accessing WAP can be very expensive. Using
SMS, we can provide the same information at a lower cost," Pham
said.

Without any prior registration, Satelindo customers are able
to request information such as movie schedules, horoscopes,
foreign exchange rates and financial news, using SMS, Pham
explained.

SMS costs Rp 200 (2 U.S. cents) a message if using the post-
paid service, and Rp 250 a message for pre-paid customers, while
incoming messages are free of charge, Pham said.

"We don't want to discriminate between our post-paid and pre-
paid customers. The difference (between them) is only their
method of payment, therefore they deserve the same kind of
treatment," he said. (tnt)