Telkom, four KSO partners agree to ratify terms of contracts

BANDUNG (JP): State-owned telecommunications firm PT Telkom reached an agreement with four of its five partners to ratify their joint operating (KSO) schemes.

Telkom vice president of communications D. Amarudien said here on Thursday "the minutes of the meeting" with the four partners had been agreed on and signed by all parties.

The four partners are PT Bukaka Singtel International with concession areas in Sulawesi and other areas of eastern Indonesia, PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia with concession areas in Central Java, PT Cable and Wireless Mitratel in Kalimantan and PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara in Sumatra.

Amarudien said negotiations with PT Aria West International, which has concession areas in West Java, were ongoing and had not yet produced tangible results.

Amarudien said Telkom and the four partners basically agreed to restore the terms of the contracts to the master agreement.

"In principle, the KSO agreements will be restored to the master contract after Dec. 31, 1999, based on the memorandum of understanding signed on June 5 last year," he said.

Telkom and its five partners signed a master agreement in 1996 to allow the partners to install telephone lines in five regions in Indonesia. The agreement ends in 2010.

After the economic crisis hit the country in 1997, the two camps signed a two-year memorandum of understanding in which Telkom agreed to cut its share of revenue from the projects to 10 percent from 30 percent.

The memorandum of understanding will end this year. Telkom earlier said it wanted its share of revenue to return to 30 percent after the memorandum of understanding lapsed.

Amarudien said Telkom and its five partners, which began negotiations on Nov. 2 to ratify the contracts, would again meet to fine-tune the contracts.

"We want to redefine some clauses and add new ones to improve communications between Telkom and its partners," Amarudien said.

He promised to announce the substance of the ratified contracts once Telkom had reached a final agreement with all five of its partners. (43/06)