Satelindo expands GSM in Surabaya, Bandung
JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) is preparing the expansion of its Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operations in Surabaya, East Surabaya, and in Bandung, West Java, as well as opening a roaming service with Singapore.
Satelindo's cellular director, Saleh Gunawan, said yesterday that his company will start installing next month some 10,000 GSM lines each in Bandung and Surabaya with a total investment of about Rp 90 billion (US$40 million).
"Roaming with Singapore will also start next month to allow our customers to use Satelindo's cellular telephone handsets from Singapore to call to Indonesia and vice versa," Saleh said after accompanying French Ambassador Thierry de Beauce to inspect Satelindo's office in Tomang, West Jakarta.
Satelindo is a telecommunications operator 45 percent owned by PT Bima Graha, a subsidiary of the Bimantara Group, 25 percent by DeTe Mobil of Germany, 22.5 percent by the state-owned domestic telecommunications operator PT Telkom and 7.5 percent by the state-owned international telecommunications operator PT Indosat. Satelindo operates satellites of the Palapa-C generation, international calls and GSM services.
Saleh said that in developing its GSM networks, Satelindo receives supplies of equipment and technology from the France- based telecommunications giant Alcatel.
He explained that Alcatel supplies various systems for billing, switching, base stations, microwave transmissions and radio network planning.
Alcatel's cellular manager in Indonesia, Nicolas Swetchine, said that his company and Satelindo signed a US$200 million contract in September 1993 for the development of 130,000 GSM lines.
Commitment
According to Saleh, since the start of GSM operations at the end of last year, Satelindo has now netted some 40,000 subscribers in greater Jakarta alone.
"We hope to increase the number of subscribers to 80,000 by the end of 1995 as we prepare to install a total of 130,000 lines later this year," he said, adding that Satelindo plans to install some 350,000 lines nationwide within the next five years.
Later this year satelindo will also penetrate markets in Central Java, including Surakarta, Semarang and Yogyakarta, as well as in Sumatra and Kalimantan, he said.
"We plan to open soon roaming utilization services with a number of other GSM operators in foreign countries such as Hong Kong, Australia, France, Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and the Netherlands," he said.
"We are committed to improving services by always trying to expand the business. Satelindo is also running a hotline service especially for GSM subscribers with problems or complaints."
"We also plan to use the global mobile satellite system in the future as a complementary cellular network," he said.
He said that a mobile satellite will be helpful to improve GSM services in mountainous areas, where it is difficult to install a radio base station.(icn)