Telephone rates to go up by 21% from June 10

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): State-owned telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) said on Friday it would increase its rates by an average of 21.67 percent on June 10.

Telkom's vice president for corporate communications Dodi Amarudien said the plan had been agreed upon by the government but was still subject to approval by the House of Representatives.

"We are planning to increase the rates on June 10 but the final time frame will be decided after consultation with the House," Dodie said.

Under the proposal, Telkom will start charging its customers the new rates from midnight on June 10.

According to Dodi, the rate increases, which had been cleared in principle by the House on May 11, were approved by then minister of communications Agum Gumelar in a ministerial decree issued on Thursday. Agum was appointed on Friday by President Abdurrahman Wahid as new coordinating minister for political, social and security affairs.

The House has agreed with the government's proposal to increase telephone rates by 45.49 percent over the next three years, that is a 21.67 percent for this year, 15.6 percent in 2002 and 8.22 percent in 2003.

Telkom is now making technical preparations in the computerized payment system at 2,600 telephone offices across the country to introduce the new rates, he said.

"The most important thing is that we have to hold information campaigns to make people understand the need for the increase," he said.

According to the ministerial decree, the highest increase would be for local calls at 28.74 percent to Rp 215 (about 2 US cents) from Rp 167 per time unit, followed by long distance calls at 20.9 percent to Rp 162 from Rp 134 per time unit.

Monthly administration fees will also increase by 28.9 percent for business subscribers and 5.34 percent for residential and social subscribers.

Meanwhile, public telephone rates will be retained at Rp 100 per time unit, Dodi said.

A time unit, also known as a pulse, is a call duration calculated based on distance of the call. The longer the distance, the shorter the time unit.

Dodi said that under the new rates, Telkom would implement a single zone system in Jakarta and nearby areas which use the 021 area code, where customers will pay Rp 150 per time unit, with one time unit lasting one minute.

"Any calls from and within the 021 area code at any time will be charged Rp 150 per minute," Dodi said.

He said the new system, that would be implemented in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, would be gradually introduced to all parts of the country in the near future.

Along with the increase in the rates of land-line telephones, the governmental decree also increases the airtime rates for cellular phones to Rp 375 a minute from Rp 325 a minute. (25/tnt)