Telecom projects offered

JAKARTA (JP): The government will choose only five consortia to establish two million telephone lines within the current Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period, a senior official said.

"The government will select five of the 150 consortia that have sent applications to the government," Director General of Post and Telecommunications Djakaria Purawidjaja told reporters in a workshop here yesterday.

He said after the selection of the five consortia, there will be an open bid on the location of the telephone line construction.

"The bid will be based on fundamental technical plans, which organize how the construction should be conducted," he said.

He refused to say when the announcement will be published.

The government expects to install five million telephone lines within the Repelita VI period, of which two million lines will be offered to private companies.

Telkom plans establish the other three million lines with a total investment of Rp 15 trillion (US$6.93 billion).

Djakaria said the private consortia participating in the telecommunications projects should involve the state-owned domestic telecommunications company PT Telkom. (icn)