Satelindo to offer telephone franchises

Satelindo to offer telephone franchises

JAKARTA (JP): PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) plans to offer franchises of its services later this year to target more customers, especially subscribers to its global mobile telephone (GSM) system.

Satelindo's commerce director, Adi Rahman Adiwoso, said here over the weekend that the introduction of the franchising system was driven by the prospect of future competition in the field of GSM telephones, which are becoming increasingly popular in the country.

"This is to anticipate competition from PT Telkomsel, which is currently operating GSM telephones on Batam and Bintan islands in Riau," Adi Rahman said after opening the company's third outlet in Golden Plaza, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

Telkomsel, which is 51 percent owned by the state-owned domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom and 49 percent by the state-run international telecommunication firm PT Indosat, plans to start its national operation of GSM telephones later this year, after it has prepared a number of international roaming features.

Satelindo, 45 percent owned by PT Bima Graha Telekomindo, a subsidiary of the well-diversified Bimantara Group, 25 percent by DeteMobil, a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom, 22.5 percent by Telkom and 7.5 percent by Indosat, is also conducting a number of international roaming features.

Adi said that his company will offer its franchising system sometime in September or October, adding that any party, including dealers and distributors of GSM handsets, may apply to become Satelindo franchise holders.

He also noted that Satelindo will not limit the number of brands of GSM handsets. "As long as the government has approved the use of the GSM handsets, we can directly offer them to the public."

Currently Satelindo offers six brands of GSM handsets, namely Ericsson, Philips, Alcatel, Motorola, Nokia and Siemens.

Prices

Adi noted that his company will no longer fix the prices of GSM handsets. "Let the market decide. The cheaper the better. It's all right if some agents and distributors cut the prices of their products. If the prices of GSM handsets become cheaper and cheaper, more people will try to buy them. And thus we can tap more customers."

He said that the number of Satelindo's GSM telephone subscribers in the Greater Jakarta area increased to some 23,000 as of last month, from a mere 10,000 at the end of last year.

Satelindo started offering its GSM telephones last September.

Satelindo is currently the only GSM telephone operator in the Greater Jakarta. Adi disclosed that the company will expand its operation to Bandung, West Java, and Surabaya, East Java, by July.

"We are already conducting technical operations among limited customers in both cities. We hope that we can start our commercial operation by July," Adi said.

When asked to describe its franchise system, Adi said his company is still studying the franchising mechanism. He added, however, that it would be similar to Telkom's telecommunication franchising kiosk, which also provides long-distance telephone services.

Last September, Satelindo introduced its international telecommunication services by applying its 008 code for international direct calls, making it the only competitor to Indosat's international telecommunications services.

In addition to its international telecommunication services and GSM telephones, Satelindo also operates Palapa-C satellites. (rid)