Satelindo SMS traffic to surge

JAKARTA (JP): Cellular phone service operator PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) estimates its short message service (SMS) traffic to increase 670 percent by the end of this year, lifting traffic volume to 10 million messages a day compared with the average of 1.3 million a day at the end of 2000.

Company spokesman Indro B. Soebagio said on Saturday that the sharp increase would be possible thanks to a plan by the country's existing cellular operators to unite their SMS services.

To date, cellular phone customers are only able to send an SMS message to mobile phone users of the same cellular operator.

Indro said that the joint SMS services would be available within the next few months but declined to reveal a specific launch date.

Satelindo charges customers of its post-paid service Rp 200 (0.2 US cents) per message and pre-paid customers Rp 250 a message.(05)