Satelindo launches data, fax services

Satelindo launches data, fax services

JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelindo, a telecommunications operator of
the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), launched here
yesterday a new service which will allow its customers to send
data and to use a modem on its digital network.

Satelindo's cellular director, Saleh Gunawan, said that the
new feature, called Mobile Data/Fax, was applicable with a set of
hardware and software.

"This service will be the first introduced by a GSM provider
in Indonesia," Saleh said.

The hardware includes a subscriber identity module card, a
handset with GSM service for fax and data, a cellular modem from
the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association
(PCMCIA) and a notebook personal computer.

The software includes Microsoft Windows (3.11 and '95) as its
operating system, GSM fax software for Windows and PCMCIA modem
utility.

A demonstration held yesterday proved that subscribers would
be able to send and receive telecopy, from Satelindo's GSM
handset to a facsimile machine, using normal telephone lines and
vice versa.

The new service will reportedly also be able to access
Internet service providers.

Satelindo's subscribers interested in using the new service
will be required to pay connection and monthly fees. Subscribers
using the new facility will still be charged for data traffic as
the air-time utilization.

Since the government controls both the tariffs for telephone
calls and installation fees, cellular telecommunications
operators in Indonesia can compete only in services.

In order to attract more customers and to be successful in the
country's increasingly competitive GSM market, Satelindo is
offering free connection and monthly service until July 31.

In addition to Satelindo, which is partly owned by the
Bimantara Group, the government has licensed PT Telkomsel who
will officially begin operating GSM service in Jakarta next
month. PT Excelcomindo will also inaugurate its GSM service later
this year.

Saleh said that since beginning its GSM service in November
1994, his company has now netted 125,000 subscribers in major
cities in Java.

"In the third or fourth quarter of this year, we plan to
expand our GSM service to cities outside Java, including Medan,
Palembang, Padang and Tanjungkarang in Sumatra, Balikpapan,
Samarinda and Palangkaraya in Kalimantan and Ujungpandang in
Sulawesi," he said, adding that Satelindo is targeted to net
850,000 subscribers by 1998/99.

Meanwhile, PT Komselindo, another cellular telecommunications
operator which is also partly owned by the Bimantara Group, plans
to expand its service to Manado, North Sulawesi.

Komselindo is the operator of the narrow-band advanced mobile
phone service (AMPS), the analog system of mobile cellular
telephones. The company cooperates with two other operators using
the AMPS system, PT Mobisel and PT Telekomindo, in providing
roaming facilities across the country.

Komselindo's director of commerce, Zen Smith, said yesterday
that the company plans to install 5,000 new lines in Manado and
its surrounding areas.

The service will officially begin operating next Tuesday.

Smith said the expansion is expected to increase the number of
Komselindo's subscribers by 10 percent. In Jakarta and West Java
alone, the company has 75,000 subscribers.

He said that Komselindo's expansion will make the AMPS
system's area of coverage the largest in the country, covering
108 regions in 12 provinces.

Ahra Zufry, Komselindo's general manager for network
expansion, said that by the end of this year, the company will
cover Banda Aceh in Aceh, West Sumatra, the northern coast of
West Java as well as Central and Southeast Sulawesi.

Naufal Ali, the company's general manager for finance, said
Komselindo will enter the Internet service to provide information
on billing and other services to customers in June.

Komselindo also plans to operate a digital system in early
1997 to improve the current analog system. The digital system is
based on a code division multiple access technology, which is now
being developed in the United States. (pwn/icn)