Telecoms giants produce equipment
JAKARTA (JP): In addition to the various foreign operators based in Indonesia, dozens of overseas equipment manufacturers and vendors have also enlivened the country's booming telecommunications industry.
Names such as Siemens, Motorola, Alcatel, Ericsson, as well as Philips, NEC and, Tomen are already well-known in Indonesia, which has PT Inti, PT Elektrindo Nusantara and PT LEN as major telecommunications or telecommunications-related equipment producers of its own.
PT Trafindo Perkasa, a subsidiary of the publicly-listed Ometraco Corporation, has set up PT Siemens Kabel Optik, a joint venture agreement with Siemens Aktiengesellschaft of Germany, to manufacture fiber-optic telecommunication cables in Indonesia. The new company plans to produce both land and submarine fiber- optic cables.
Siemens, one of the world's leading companies in the electrical, electronics and telecommunications field, will provide technical assistance in establishing the manufacturing facilities and testing the fiber-optic cable production.
The German firm has extended its long-term support for the company's telecommunications industry. A number of radio-based stations for the GSM projects in Indonesia were supplied by Siemens.
Alcatel Alsthom of France and PT Elektrindo Nusantara, an affiliate of the Bimantara Group, have also signed an agreement to cooperate in telecommunications projects in the country.
Elektrindo's president, Harry Kuntoro, said recently that the future joint telecommunications projects should allow his company to enter the global market.
"Beyond marketing domestically, we want to enter the international market," he said, adding that that's why negotiations between the two parties are proving to be tough.
Alcatel, in association with Elektrindo Nusantara, also intends to participate in the fields of cellular mobile telephones, subscriber cable networks and submarine links.
The French firm was the major supplier for PT Satelindo in establishing the GSM network in Jakarta.
The state-owned domestic telecommunications provider PT Telkom has also awarded a unit of Alcatel, AMEN, a million microwave transmissions contract. The project, which comprises radio links over Sumatra and Sulawesi islands, also includes Marubeni of Japan and the Bimantara group
Motorola of the United States has won a contract to supply the GSM for PT Telkomsel in Indonesia, which will be the company's first GSM communications contract in Indonesia.
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson AB also won contracts from PT Excelcomindo, the country's third GSM operator, to expand a GSM network. This network will be in operation by the end of this year and completed in 1997.
Ericsson is also the supplier of DRA 1900 equipment for telecommunications networks in Sumatra ordered by PT Astratel Nusantara, one of the five private firms awarded a 15-year contract to install some 2.25 telephone lines in the country.
The Swedish firm has recently set up PT Ericsson Indonesia.
AT&T of the U.S., in the meantime, is the assistant for Telkom for the development of long distance networks. The American firm is helping Telkom improve its billing system; network planning, operation and administration; customer services plan and the development of new services to make the state company a world- class operator. AT&T, which has set up a joint venture in Indonesia, is also involved in the trial operations of the wireless telecommunications network using code division multiple access (CDMA) technology with PT Komselindo.
Japanese NEC and Sumitomo have also set up a joint venture in Indonesia called PT NEC Nusantara Indonesia which markets the Integrated System Digital Network system.
As a domestic telecommunications provider, Telkom will also a complete fiber-optic network linking Lampung and Bali through Java. This will increase the successful call-ratio in the country.
Fiber optic networks in several other areas in Indonesia are expected to be installed within the current Sixth Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period.
Meanwhile, the state-owned PT Indosat is also constructing a submarine fiber-optic link between Jakarta and Surabaya. This will enable the company to enhance its network reliability and improve the quality of its service. The network, to be completed early next year, is planned to link Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Guam. (icn)