Telephone contractors to meet govt target
JAKARTA (JP): State-owned PT Telkom Indonesia said here yesterday that five private companies licensed to build and operate telephone facilities in the country have committed to meet their targets despite the monetary crisis.
Telkom's coordinator of the joint operation (KSO) monitoring team, S. Widyonarko, said that some of them might not be able to reach their target for this year.
But he said that they would speed up the construction of new telephone lines in the following years so that their long-range targets would be achieved.
The government announced recently a massive retrenchment program including the delay of big infrastructure projects to cope with the monetary crisis, which has caused a decline in the rupiah by about 35 percent since early July.
"We have to evaluate the contractors periodically. Though there have been some delays in installation schedules, they have so far performed well," he said in a joint press conference between PT Telkom and its five partners.
In January 1996, 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 joint operation contracts.
The privatization is expected to support the government's target to install five million lines during the current Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) which will end in March 1999.
The five firms are required to install two million lines and manage them and existing lines until 2010, while Telkom is to operate, manage and develop three million lines in Greater Jakarta and East Java.
The five private firms, each joint ventures between domestic and overseas operators, are PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara which is responsible for installing 500,000 new lines in Sumatra, PT Ariawest International (500,000 lines in West Java), PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia (400,000 lines in Central Java), PT Daya Mitra Telekomunikasi Mitratel (237,000 lines in Kalimantan) and PT Bukaka SingTel International (403,000 lines in eastern Indonesia).
To deal with the projects, the five companies have been granted about US$1.3 billion in foreign loans and a sum of some $1.05 billion representing total equity from shareholders.
Two years after the KSO signing, Telkom and the five private firms reaffirmed yesterday their joint commitment to the provision of world class telecommunications in Indonesia by 2001.
"We're confident the joint operation scheme will further accelerate the telecommunications process throughout Indonesia, while ensuring that even the remotest parts of Indonesia have access to affordable telecommunications facilities," Telkom's president Asman A. Nasution said in a written statement.
Widyonarko, however, refused to disclose whether the five private firms would be assigned to install more lines than the original targets.
Late last year the government increased the five million target to eight million lines, including 6.7 million fixed lines and a network capacity for 1.3 million mobile phones.
Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications secretary- general Jonathan L. Parapak said yesterday some of the five firms failed to install enough lines this year.
"But they said they will accomplish the total required lines by 1999. They will also probably install more lines," he said, adding that none of the five firms had been penalized for their tardiness. (icn)