Satelindo gives service, commitment

Satelindo gives service, commitment

JAKARTA (JP): A cellular operator's success depends on its
commitment to its users and not on how many subscribers it has.

Competition among Indonesia's mobile cellular telephone
operators is getting fiercer with innovative services and
features offered to customers because the tariffs for telephone
traffic is controlled by the government.

As the first telecommunications operator of the Global System
for Mobile Communications (GSM) in Indonesia, PT Satelindo is now
leading the digital cellular race, backed with qualified human
resources and a strong financial structure.

Satelindo's director, Saleh Gunawan, said that the business of
cellular telecommunications is not just selling the product by
offering various services and facilities but by taking care of
customers.

He said that over any other operator, his company is committed
to providing better services and warranties to its customers.

"It's useless to sell more and more Satelindo GSM subscriber
identity module (SIM) cards if the subscribers seldom use the
handsets because of bad coverage," he said.

Cellular telecommunications operators should indeed create the
users reachable anywhere.

It's useless for users if they cannot operate their SIM card
while they are mobile, or if an ongoing conversation is suddenly
disconnected due to poor coverage.

Satelindo keeps on concentrating in the greater Jakarta area
which is considered as the key market. Cellular providers will be
categorized as world-class operators if they are able to cover
the whole metropolitan at the lowest rate of blank spots.

GSM was first developed in European nations in 1985. Germany
applied the digital mobile cellular telecommunications system
which now expands to more than 70 countries all over the world.
GSM, one of the main leaders in digital cellular mobile telephone
technologies in the world, has several benefits compared with
other systems. These benefits include global network access,
clearer transmissions and high security, as well as many other
features. GSM was launched in Indonesia in 1994.

There has been a very positive public response since the
initiation of the GSM cellular telephone in September, 1994.
Within four months of operation, there were 9,000 active
customers. Satelindo's customer base reached 276,000.

Satelindo currently has a total of 230,000 subscribers in the
greater Jakarta area.

Coverage

The company has also installed a number of indoor antennas to
support its coverage within sky-scrapper buildings. Therefore,
users can operate their handsets on any floors.

Traffic jams during rush hours, when people on their way to
offices and after working hours, will also challenge an operator,
whether people can make calls successfully or not due to network
congestion.

Satelindo also prepared a series of Base Transceiver Stations
(BTS) around the Seribu Islands in the Jakarta bay, North
Jakarta.

People fond of fishing, sunbathing or other water activities
in Seribu Islands will be able to use their Satelindo GSM because
the company has installed microwave networks to link BTS located
on some islands in the bay.

In addition to the well-prepared coverage in the greater
Jakarta area, Satelindo also guaranteed its continuous coverage
of several routes in the Java island.

People on the routes of Jakarta-Puncak-Bandung, Jakarta-Anyer,
Jakarta-Cikampek-Bandung-Cirebon, Cirebon-Semarang and Surakarta-
Surabaya are able to use Satelindo GSM.

Satelindo will also cover the Jakarta-Jonggol-Ciranjang-
Bandung route. Java's northern route, locally called Pantura,
which spans Anyer in the island's western clue and Banyuwangi,
Java's eastern tip, which is also the gateway to Bali.

The company has committed to setup a continuous network by
installing BTS at the right places, including those located in
mountainous and forest areas.

Since starting its GSM service three years ago, Satelindo
believes that it is still the market leader, always providing the
best services to customers based on world-class standards.

Satelindo, an Indonesia-Germany joint-venture firm, has
already invested Rp 2 trillion (US$833.33 million) in its GSM
operations, which currently uses more than 750 BTS in the
coverage areas, including 500 BTS in the greater Jakarta area.

"On May 20, we will operate our GSM service nationwide," Saleh
said.

He said that by the end of this year, the company plans to
operate up to 1,000 Base Transceiver Stations around the country.

Roaming service

To provide its customer with the best services, Satelindo has
offered international roaming.

Roaming services allow GSM customers to use local cellular
telephones in foreign countries to call operators in Indonesia
and vice versa.

Satelindo customers are benefiting from true global mobility
through an expanding list of international roaming agreements,
which includes 59 operators in 37 countries worldwide, permitting
customers the convenience of instant communications to anywhere
in the world as well as from anywhere in the world while
traveling overseas. This capability truly distinguishes GSM from
other systems.

The company has even extended the roaming facility to the
United States, a country which does not apply the GSM-900 system.

The U.S. applies the AMPS but has also developed the Personal
Communication System (PCS-1900) which works at the 1.9 gigahertz,
much high than the 900 megahertz used by GSM.

"Users can just bring their Satelindo SIM card and place it on
a PCS-1900 handset when they visit the U.S. They will be
reachable," Saleh said.

In order to facilitate customers receiving reliable and
integrated services, Satelindo provides a high-quality customer
service via hotline and walk-in customer-care facilities.

Satelindo currently has nine customer care centers, six in
Jakarta, and one each in Bandung, West Java, Semarang, Central
Java and Surabaya, East Java.

In addition to the customer-care centers, which answer
enquiries and give sales and services, Satelindo also offers its
customers a phone service, which is more popular with its
subscribers.

Subscribers just dial 222 to receive information.

With its human resources and financial structure, Satelindo is
committed to stay in the lead of Indonesia's cellular market. Its
no wonder that the company plans to serve new subscribers by
having their GSMs activated within just couple of hours of
purchase. Satelindo, which now only needs one day to activate new
lines, will someday be able to serve new connections within
hours.

The company is dedicated to offering individuals and
businesses numerous high-quality services that are readily
available, reliable and affordable. It strives to remain highly
competitive in the telecommunications field and to efficiently
represent Indonesia in the international field of
telecommunications business.