Telkom adjusts discount phone call periods

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned domestic telecommunications provider, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), is changing the times of its discount calling periods.

Telkom's director for operations and marketing, Dadad Kustiwa, said yesterday that the period offering a 75 percent discount on long distance calls will be changed from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. until 8 a.m.

"Telkom's plan to shift the periods for tariff discounts will be subject to the government's approval," he said.

Besides the 75-percent discount, Telkom also offers a discount of 50 percent on long distance calls between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Telkom charges 25 percent more than the normal rate for long distance calls made between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Long distance calls between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are subject to its normal tariff rate.

"The demand for long distance calls after 9 p.m. is very high and has surpassed the capacity of Telkom's network facilities," Dadad said.

He said that the government is expected to give its approval for the new arrangement before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, another company director, John Welly, said that the firm is evaluating the inventories of its subsidiaries to keep the company's shares solid.

Telkom floated 19 percent of its 9.33 billion shares on the New York, London, Jakarta and Surabaya stock exchanges in November 1995. The company raised Rp 2.3 trillion (US$1 billion) from the domestic offering and $519.1 million from the overseas offering. From the funds raised domestically, only Rp 1.85 trillion went to Telkom, while the remainder as well as the funds raised from the overseas offering were turned over to the government.

The company plans to use 40 percent of the share offering proceeds to finance capacity expansion, 40 percent for quality enhancement and 20 percent for business development.

Telkom recently sold a number of its shares in PT Ratelindo, a fixed cellular telecommunications operator, to PT Bakrie Electronics Company, the other shareholder in Ratelindo. Bakrie paid Rp 100 billion for the additional equity to increase its stake from 55 percent to 87 percent.

Apart from Ratelindo, Telkom currently has dozens of subsidiaries including the digital mobile cellular telecommunications providers PT Telkomsel (with 42.7 percent of all shares) and PT Satelindo (22.5 percent), satellite providers PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (20 percent), telecommunications maintaining provider PT Bangtelindo (15 percent) and data communications operator PT Aplikanusa Lintasartha (25 percent).

The other subsidiaries are the analog mobile cellular telecommunications carriers PT Komselindo (35 percent), PT Mobilsel (25 percent), PT Metrosel (20 percent) and PT Telekomindo Primabhakti (10 percent). Telkom also controls a number of stakes in refinery satellite operator PT Patrakomindo (30 percent) and the yellow-page publisher PT Infomedia Nusantara (15 percent).

The Batam-based PT Batam Bintan Telekomunikasi, set up in June, is its most recently established firm, partly owned by Telkom. Batam Bintan, 5 percent owned by Telkom, is controlled by PT Batamindo Investment Corporation. (icn)