Telkom, Indosat welcome move to remove monopoly
Telkom, Indosat welcome move to remove monopoly
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly listed state-owned telecommunications
companies PT Telkom and PT Indosat welcomed on Wednesday the
government's decision to terminate their monopoly over the sector
in 2002 and 2003, ahead of the original schedules of 2010 and
2004 respectively.
Both companies said they were upbeat about their future
prospects despite the removal of their exclusive rights in the
country's telecommunications sector.
According to the two companies, the measures which would allow
them to serve both international and local call services would
give them much wider business opportunities.
Indosat president Hari Kartana said his company was ready to
expand into the local and domestic long distance telephone
services to compete with Telkom, which currently dominated the
sector.
"We are now on the process of preparing ourselves by building
our competency and restructuring the company's organization so
that by the time the new industry structure is adopted, Indosat
will be ready to become a Full Network and Service Provider", he
said.
He said Indosat would in the initial stage use cellular
technology to compete with Telkom in the domestic
telecommunication services.
He said Indosat had also set up the basis for a high quality
worldwide network with its submarine cables linked to more than
35 countries in the world which will be used as supporting
infrastructure for the new businesses.
On Tuesday, the office of Directorate General of Post and
Telecommunications announced in a press conference the
government's plan on Tuesday to speed up the termination of the
monopoly awarded to Telkom and Indosat.
Telkom's director of operations and marketing Komarudin
Sastrakoesoemah said the early termination of its monopoly would
unnecessarily damage its business.
However, he corrected the period of termination in the
directorate general's written statement. He said the statement
was misleading and contradictory to the commitment mentioned
earlier by the government.
He said the government had earlier affirmed that it would not
terminate Telkom's monopoly on local and domestic long distance
calls at the same time, but would terminate local calls in 2002
and domesticlong distance calls in 2003.
"We have sent an official letter to complain about the matter.
We've talked to the director general and he admitted that the
office's statement contained false information," he said.
According to the press statement, the government will lift
Telkom's monopoly in local and domestic long distance call
services at the same time in 2002, ahead of the original
schedules of 2010 and 2005 respectively.
While Indosat's monopoly in the international telephone call
service, which it shared with subsidiary PT Satelindo until 2004,
will be nullified one year earlier in 2003.
In return, the government will award Telkom with a provisional
license to operate international telephone call services this
month and later will provide it with the permanent license in
August 2003.
The government will also award Indosat with a provisional
license for local and domestic call services this month, while
the permanent licenses will follow in August 2002.
Komarudin said he was optimistic that Telkom would be able to
maintain its position as the dominant operator for the fixed
line-based local telephone service while at the same time
developing new businesses in the wireless and international
telephone services.
Telkom, which now serves more than 6.18 million customers,
will transform itself into a giant telecommunications operator
with various services including Internet and multimedia, he said.
(cst)