Satelindo expects 60% more GSM subscribers

Satelindo expects 60% more GSM subscribers

JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) expects
a 60 percent increase in its global system for mobile
communications (GSM) subscribers this year, lifting the total
number of customers to 1.7 million from the 1.06 million recorded
at the end of last year, an executive said.

Satelindo's vice president of cellular service marketing and
product management Tien Thinh Pham said on Friday that the
company would expand its switching capacity to support the
target.

"We are expanding our switching capacity to two million, so we
are really eying the two million mark this year," he told
journalists in a media briefing.

Satelindo, which recorded 715,489 subscribers in 1999,
experienced growing demand from cellular users following the
expansion of its pre-paid services.

Pham said that the company would build additional base
transceiver stations (BTS) to enable expansion of its coverage,
particularly in major cities outside Java.

At present, Satelindo's service covers Denpasar, Greater
Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Bandung, Batam, major cities in
Sumatra, and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

"By expanding our switching capacity, we are also expanding
our coverage area, so that soon we will also have coverage in
smaller cities in Indonesia," Pham said.

He said that out of the 1.06 million subscribers, 85 percent
are customers of Satelindo's Mentari pre-paid subscriber identity
module (SIM).

"Indonesia is a purely pre-paid market," Pham said, explaining
that many people in strife-torn areas of the country, such as
Ambon and Irian, still prefer to use pre-paid services.

He said that in areas lacking infrastructure, such as the
operator's representative offices, it is more convenient to use
pre-paid services, which do not require any involved registration
or administrative procedures. (tnt)