Satelindo's GSM enters Bandung

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo), a private telecommunications operator, started its expansion of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operations yesterday.

The company's cellular director, Saleh Gunawan, said that his company has spent Rp 30 billion (US$13.2 million) for the expansion project here, where some 10,000 people are expected to subscribe.

Satelindo is 45 percent owned by PT Bima Graha, a subsidiary of the Bimantara Group, 25 percent by DeTeMobil of Germany, 22.5 percent by the state-owned domestic telecommunications operator PT Telkom and 7.5 percent by the state-owned international telecommunications operator PT Indosat.

The company, which also operates satellites of the Palapa-C generation and international calls, has already listed some 40,000 GSM subscribers in Greater Jakarta, where it started the business late last year.

Saleh said yesterday that Satelindo also operates radio network planning tools, which were supplied by Alcatel of France and DeTeMobil.

"The equipment is very helpful, to find the best locations for base transceiver stations, so the quality of voice will be superior," he said.

He said that the equipment will cover large areas and can avoid blank spots because the tools use satellite-based data.

Such equipment has also been operated by PT Telkomsel, the state-owned GSM operator, which started its business in Sumatra.

In the first phase, the company has installed six base transceiver stations out of the 12 planned. (pet/icn)