Telephone contractors fail to meet govt target

JAKARTA (JP): Three of the five private firms with 15-year telecommunication joint operation contracts have failed to meet the government's target for building telephone lines.

Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications secretary- general Jonathan L. Parapak said yesterday the firms failed to install enough lines in Kalimantan, Central Java and the country's eastern region last year.

In January last year state-owned PT Telkom handed over the management of its telecommunication networks in Sumatra, Kalimantan, West and Central Java, Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya and Nusa Tenggara to five companies under an October 1995 joint operation contract.

The projects were part of the government program to install five million lines during the current Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) which ends in March 1999.

The five private joint ventures are PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara which is responsible for installing 500,000 new lines in Sumatra; PT Aria West International (500,000 lines in West Java), PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (400,000 lines in Central Java), PT Daya Mitra (237,000 lines in Kalimantan) and PT Bukaka Singtel (403,000 lines in eastern Indonesia).

The firms are required to install two million lines and manage them and existing lines until 2010, while Telkom operates, manages and develops three million lines in Greater Jakarta and East Java.

Target

Late last year the government announced a target of eight million lines during Repelita VI. The target includes 6.7 million fixed lines and a network capacity for 1.3 million mobile phones.

"There will be 2.1 million additional telephone lines targeted to be installed by March 1999," he said.

He said the five firms would install 250,000 of these lines, while Telkom would install the rest in Greater Jakarta and East Java.

Locations for the 250,000 which private firms will install will be decided later this year.

Parapak said the joint operation projects had run well so far although cable and central installation were 95 percent and 86.6 percent of the targets.

"This is a matter of learning curve. The five firms still need time to tune up and they have committed to compensate what they haven't done in 1997."

Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications data shows the five regions successful local call ratio reached 96.7 percent, long-distance call ratio 96.11 percent and disturbance completion 77.72 percent last year.

Pramindo project director Aimee Valliancourt said the company managed to build more than 97,000 switching lines in 1996, surpassing the 44,000-line target. Pramindo is partly owned by the Astra International group and France Cable et Radio, a subsidiary of France Telecom.

A source at Daya Mitra's office Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, said the company failed to build any of the 47,000 lines the government required in 1996.

"But I'm confident Daya Mitra will be able to construct 237,000 lines in Kalimantan on time," he said.

Daya Mitra's shareholders include ALatieF Corp and Cable & Wireless.

Ariawest spokesperson Chandra said the company, partly owned by US West and PT Artimas Kencana Murni, constructed 100,000 lines last year, more than the required 70,000.

Mitra Global and Bukaka Singtel executives refused to comment on their tardiness.

Mitra is partly owned by state-owned PT Indosat, Japan's NTT and Australia's Telstra, while Bukaka is owned by Bukaka group and Singapore's Singtel. (icn)