Siemens expects larger market share despite crisis

JAKARTA (JP): German mobile phone maker Siemens remains bullish on Indonesia's cellular telephone market and expects to fill at least 15 percent of the total demand this year.

Robby Darmasetiawan, the general manager of Siemens' sole agent in Indonesia PT Dian Graha Elektrika, said last week that increasing the market share to 15 percent this year, from 12 percent, was realistic despite the economic crisis.

"We are very optimistic we can reach the target because the Indonesian cellular market is still growing rapidly amid the current economic crisis," he said.

He said if the sales target was achieved, Siemens would be able to improve its position and share the top three cellular telephone supplier spots with Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia.

Siemens estimates the country's total mobile phone sales will increase by 13 percent to 300,000 units this year.

Nokia, Ericsson and the United States company, Motorola, currently control Indonesia's Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile cellular telephone handset market.

According to Robby, Siemens cellular phones currently control 12 percent of Indonesia's mobile phone market, its largest market in Southeast Asia.

Last year, Siemens suffered a major drop in sales of its cellular telephones, due to the crisis-induced decline in purchasing power of most of its target markets, Robby said.

Siemens only sold 15,000 units of cellular phones in 1998, he said.

He attributed the sluggish sales to the sharp depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar, which caused a sharp increase in the cost of cellular phones.

The rupiah, which plunged to a low of Rp 17,000 against the U.S dollar in January, has stabilized at between Rp 7,500 and Rp 8,000 since early October. However, it is still well below the precrisis level of around Rp 2,500, last recorded in July 1997

Robby said the company expected an increase in sales from sales of its recently launched product, the Siemens C25.

"I am confident we will be able to reach the target of selling 2,000 units of Siemens C25 per month, given the demand for this product since its launch last month.

"By the end of this year, we expect to sell at least 30,000 C25 units."

Robby said the new phone is sold at "a very competitive price" compared to other handsets.

Siemens previously offered the S-4, the S-6, the S-10 and SL10 handsets in Indonesia. The cost of a Siemens mobile phone is currently between Rp 2.5 million and Rp 3.25 million.

The dualband Siemens C25 is 27 millimeters high, 47 millimeters wide and 117 millimeters long. It weighs about 135 grams, including the battery.

The phone offers up to 100 hours standby time and up to 300 minutes talk time with a standard battery.

The Siemens C25 has 20 ring tones. Users of the Siemens C25 can personalize their own ring tones with the ring tone composer.

The phone provides a three-line display, which aims to make reading messages easier.

Aside from launching new products, Siemens would also improve customer services by opening more outlets, Robby said.

"We also guarantee to fix your phone in 30 minutes," he said. (gis)