Telephone target

Two news items caught my eye on Feb. 16. Govt forecasts power glut as demand drops and Telkom to build more telephone lines but below the target, Page 10. These are faces of the same coin. There is already a telephone glut of l.6 million unsold lines.

The telephone target was based on the assumption of a steady economic growth rate. The economic growth rate is forecast to be zero percent this year. I think it makes more sense to invest in access to connect new subscribers to the existing 1.6 million lines rather than to build an additional 1.4 million. Freezing the lines for 1998 gives the KSO's a break to connect their existing telephone lines to raise revenue and restart full steam ahead in 1999.

On top of that, there is the possibility of investing during the current year on new technologies that provide increased revenue with minimum investment. Instead of building new big telephone exchanges, it is much more economical to build smaller ones in remote areas at the fringes of the network, where there is guaranteed demand. There is technology to provide this solution without heavy up-front investment.

OSVALDO COELHO

Jakarta