Telkom-AT&T telecom deal

JAKARTA (JP): The state owned domestic telecommunications company, PT Telkom, has awarded four contracts to American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) for the supply and installation of digital switching and transmission equipment, fiber optic cables and operation systems throughout the country.

AT&T said in a statement made available here yesterday that the contracts, worth more than US$110 million, call for the supply of a comprehensive package of telecommunications equipment and associated services for the development of phase two of Telkom's STDI II direct dialing telecommunication project -- Indonesia's long range development program to expand and modernize its telecommunication networks -- as well as for the creation of a multi-exchange area on Batam Island.

The development of phase two of the STDI II project was partly financed by the U.S. Exim Bank, which has allocated over $600 million for the procurement of some two million telephone lines and associated infrastructure for the next five years, the statement said. (fhp)