Telkom has voice mail service

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned domestic telecommunications provider PT Telkom launched yesterday Telkom Memo, a voice mail service which will allow subscribers to have messages left for them when they are unable to take calls.

Company assistant vice president for internal relations, Widarto, said the new service was launched by Telkom's director Dadad Kustiwa in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.

He said Telkom initiated a pilot project of the service in Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java, last October.

The company estimated some 26,000 and 7,000 voice mail boxes would be needed in Greater Jakarta and Surabaya respectively, he said.

Widarto said the voice mail service was also available in Ujungpandang (with a capacity of 2,000 boxes); Medan, North Sumatra (3,000); Palembang, South Sumatra (2,000); Bandung, West Java (4,000); Semarang, Central Java (1,000); Denpasar, Bali (1,000) and Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan (1,500).

He said that in the first phase Telkom Memo was offered to customers who used the telephone about six hours a day or had at least 30 incoming and outgoing calls during peak hours.

"Customers who meet this requirement will get Telkom Memo free of charge," he said.

The company said it had 4.3 million customers and a successful local call ratio (answered first time) of 59.19 percent and long distance ratio of 54.82 percent.

Widarto said Telkom Memo was designed to improve the successful call ratios to support Telkom's goal of becoming a world class operator.

He said Telkom was striving to increase successful call ratios to least 80 percent for local calls and 70 percent for long- distance calls. (icn)