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.