Telephones become a grassroots demand

Telephones are virtually a basic need these days and home installation is becoming easier and cheaper. To coincide with World Telecommunications Day which falls today, The Jakarta Post reporter Dwi Atmanta wrote the following story, with reports from Devi M. Asmarani and Kosasih Deradjat.

JAKARTA (JP): The telephone proved to be a true friend when riots and looting overwhelmed the capital last week.

With many stranded all night in their offices, the telephone helped to ease the minds of their families worrying at home.

"It would have been a very sad day if my wife and son fell victim to merciless looters when I was not at home. But by calling her I could at least try to keep her calm," Andre, an employee of a private company in Central Jakarta, said recalling the tense night.

He went without sleep, and repeatedly rang his scared wife to make sure she was okay. Andre's family live a 45 minute drive away from Jakarta in Tangerang.

"There was nothing I could do but try to sooth her. I even lied to her and told her that the looting had eased and the situation was under control," he said.

Offices of the state telecommunications company PT Telkom have reportedly been open 24 hours to receive reports of disrupted services.

For the past two years, the telephone has been a faithful friend for Sulami, a resident of Klaten, a small town near Surakarta in Central Java.

She has lived alone in a big house since her children left to find work elsewhere. Every day, just after dusk, Sulami devotes a few minutes to phoning her children and grandchildren.

"Every time I receive a call from my children or grandchildren, I forget my loneliness," the 65-year-old, who makes a living from her rice field, said.

Due to the cost of phoning, she rarely dials herself but sits and waits for her beloved offspring to ring her. Her son, who lives in Semarang, the provincial capital, provided the telephone for her.

Demands

Telephones, conventional and wireless, are more than just an easy way of talking to people. As telecommunication technology has developed, people have started to demand a vast range of conveniences.

Cellular phones using the global system for mobile communications (GSM), for example, boast the convenience of instant communications to and from anywhere in the world.

Not until the mid 1990s could Indonesians imagine making a call from deep in a forest or on a mountain summit, improbable sites for a public telephone.

"The cellular phone has become one of my basic needs. Monthly bills do not matter to me because it is a must, whether I like it or not. The same reason applies to why I have to eat or drink," said Koko, who owns an advertising firm.

But family ties were the true reason he bought a cellular telephone two years ago, he said.

"I spend most of my day away from my wife. Only cell phones enable us to keep in touch with each other wherever we are," he said.

Mobile phones are a futuristic dream that has come true, albeit an expensive one.

The demand for quick information has made many belittle the costs involved. Even a reporter from a small daily newspaper who earns less than Rp 1.5 million (US$150) per month, finds it necessary to have a mobile phone.

However, it is only a matter of time before consumers will have to spend less for the conveniences offered by cellular phones.

The growth of telecommunications facilities, and subscribers to both conventional and wireless servers, was in overdrive until the economic crisis broke.

Under a telecommunication technology project known as Nusantara 21, it is predicted that by 2020 the number of fixed telephone lines will reach at least 20 percent of the projected population of 250 million, and the number of mobile cellular telephone lines will make up between 10 percent and 20 percent of the country's total telephone lines.

The project will link the country's 27 provincial capitals with 155 Mbps widebands. All existing telecommunications infrastructure, including satellites, conventional and terrestrial cables, submarine cables and terrestrial radio links are to be integrated into the massive new telecommunications network.

Major cities and district capitals should be hooked up by 2001.

Needless to say, complaints -- usually regarding over-priced bills and dialing difficulties -- are a black spot on the dreams of a seamless telecommunications network.

Sunardi, a resident of a housing complex in Klender, East Jakarta, could hardly believe that his phone bill had doubled from an average of Rp 100,000 a month after he made a number of premium rate calls.

These charges are levied on a new service, launched by PT Telkom in August last year, which offers an intelligent network giving consumers access to multimedia systems. But the sophisticated system has been reduced to an mere entertainment and games service.

Quiz

Six companies provide the new service, better known as Japati. Most present quiz programs in cooperation with private TV stations. The quiz games offer cash prizes of up to Rp 2.5 million.

In exchange for use of its technology, Telkom imposed a special call rate ranging between Rp 1,225 and Rp 3,300 per minute, much to the surprise and chagrin of users. This type of telephone number usually starts with the prefix 0809.

Sunardi refused to pay the bill, saying that he never dialed numbers beginning with 0809. But Telkom turned a deaf ear to his complaints, and showed him the list of calls made from his number, including those made on premium rates.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation has lodged a protest with the providers of Japati for allegedly encouraging participants to spend a long time on the phone. The foundation criticized the service providers for not revealing enough information about the rules of the quiz game and the new telephone service.

Consumers no longer just want access to phones and appealing games. They clearly expect service providers to listen to their complaints and keep their promises too.