Small firms want telecoms role
Small firms want telecoms role
JAKARTA (JP): Medium and small-scale telecommunications firms
are keen to participate in the government's project to establish
five million new telephone lines before the end of the current
five-year development plan, an executive said yesterday.
Three million of the targeted lines, to be installed in
Greater Jakarta and East Java, are to be installed by the state-
owned domestic telecommunications operator PT Telkom, while the
other two million are to be installed in other parts of the
country by private companies under joint operating contracts with
Telkom.
The government has selected five consortia, whose members
signed joint-venture agreements in Bandung on Wednesday, to
install the two million lines before the end of the sixth five-
year plan, which will end in March 1999.
"The consortia are likely to look for major contractors for
their projects and they apparently prefer to assign foreign
companies," said Chairman of the Indonesian Association of
Domestic Telecommunications Firms (Apnatel), Rahardjo
Tjakranigrat.
The winners of the joint operating contracts are the Pramindo
Ikat consortium, which is to install 516,000 lines in Sumatra;
the Tiga-A consortium, (500,000 lines in West Java); the Mitra
Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (440,000 lines in Central Java);
the Daya Mitra Malindo consortium (237,000 lines in Kalimantan);
and the Bukaka Singtel consortium (403,000 lines in the eastern
provinces).
The projects will start in Jan. 1996 under 15-year contracts
which will expire on Dec. 21, 2010.
As required by the government, each of the consortia is led by
a domestic firm and each consortium is providing 40 percent
equity for its project.
"Even though the consortia are led by domestic firms, we know
some of them are looking for foreign firms as their main
contractors," Rahardjo said.
He suggested that the government require each of the consortia
to divide their projects into five or six packages which could be
carried out by medium and small-scale telecommunications-related
firms.
"Apnatel is ready to support the projects by appointing a
special team to coordinate cooperation," he said.
He said that by establishing partnerships with medium-sized
and small companies to carry out projects the consortia could
save 15 percent of the projects' projected cost.
Thomas B. Subijakto, a top executive of Pramindo Ikat, said
that the appointment or non-appointment of small and medium-sized
firms for work on the projects would depend wholly on the quality
of their services. (icn)