Telecoms, broadcasting 'must be handled by one ministry'

Telecoms, broadcasting 'must be handled by one ministry'

JAKARTA (JP): Telecommunications and broadcasting should be
administered under one ministry to avoid overlapping in licensing
and regulations, a telecommunications executive said on Tuesday.

"We suggest that the two sectors be put under the
jurisdiction of a single ministry called the Ministry of
Communications and Multimedia," chief of the Indonesian
Telecommunications Society (Mastel) Sukarno Adulrachman told a
news conference on his organization's recommendations for the
telecommunications bill.

The society, he added, feared two different laws covering
inter-related operations would be applied if telecommunications
and broadcasting remained under different ministries.

He noted the convergence of telecommunications, information
and broadcasting in electronic multimedia services.

The bill on telecommunications currently before the House of
Representatives is scheduled to be approved by legislators at a
plenary session later this month.

Mastel earlier briefed the House on the urgent need to align
stipulations for telecommunications and broadcasting to help the
government make appropriate policies and regulations.

Sukarno, a former director general of post and
telecommunications, said an independent regulatory body was
needed to monitor and oversee the implementation of
telecommunications law.

The regulatory body, which would be independent of the
industry, would oversee the judicial aspects of
telecommunications operations.

The government is the controlling shareholder in PT Telkom
Indonesia, which holds a monopoly on domestic telecommunications
service, and PT Indosat, one of two international service
providers in the country.

Telecommunications companies also plan to develop their
operations into a self-regulatory industry setting its own code
of conduct and dispute-settlement mechanism.

Designed to further liberalize the telecommunications sector,
the bill will ease restrictions on new domestic and foreign
players.

Sukarno said that due to mutual recognition of operational
standards, the government should stipulate in the bill its
provisions on technical qualification and certification.(01)