Team to probe marketing of SIM cards
Team to probe marketing of SIM cards
JAKARTA (JP): The Directorate General of Post and
Telecommunications said on Wednesday it will set up a team to
investigate reports of unfair practices in the marketing of
cellular prepaid subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.
Director General Sasmito Dirdjo said the investigation would
be carried out in the card bith in the distribution and in the
retail levels as well as cellular operators' line capacity in
producing the prepaid cards.
"The establishment of the team is our response to the mounting
critics by the public and customers who find difficult in
obtaining the starter package of the prepaid cards produced by
either one of the three Global System for Mobile (GSM) operators,
Telkomsel, Satelindo and Excelcomindo," he was quoted by Antara
as saying.
He did not say whether the team would impose any sanction to
the party found guilty of practicing the unfair trade, causing
the price of the prepaid starter packages to jump far above the
regular price set by the cellular operator.
Sasmito said people complained that prices of the prepaid
starter packages had increased unreasonably higher in the past
few months due to the shortage of the card supply in the market.
For example, the starter package of Telkomsel's Simpati card
containing a free initial Rp 100,000 (US$13.3) pulse is offered
up to Rp 650,000 at the market, compared to the regular price of
only Rp 250,000.
While the Mentari starter package of Satelindo, containing an
initial free pulse of Rp 25,000, is being offered at around Rp
700,000 from its regular price of Rp 125,000.
The price is even more expensive reaching around Rp 1 million
if the cards offer a special number.
The scarcity of the prepaid starter package supply in the
market is "enginneered" by several large card distributors by
limiting the supply in the market, Alie Cendrawan.
Hermes Thamrin, an owner of a main authorized Mentari card
distributor rejected the charge, saying distributors had never
limited the supply to retailers.
"We always try to meet the entire market's demand. But there
is not much we can do because we are depending on the supply from
cellular operator itself," he said.
An executive in the cellular industry said cellular operators
offering prepaid card services no longer issue the cards because
the cards circulating in the market have already reached their
line capacity.
The amount of the prepaid cards sold by a cellular operator
should be within the capacity of its line capacity.
"It is hard for operators to produce new cell numbers because
they don't have the money to expand their line capacity. It needs
around $50 to establish one new number," said the source, who
asked for anonymity. (cst)