Telkom issues new phone rates

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned telecommunication company PT Telkom Tbk has raised local and long-distance phone charges, as well as monthly fixed fees, by up to 17.9 percent.

Under the new phone rates announced on Friday, public phone charges and fees for the installment of new telephone lines remain unchanged.

The rate at streetside telephone kiosks increased by 16.77 percent for local calls and 12.68 percent for long-distance calls.

The Ministry of Transportation, which oversees telecommunications, issued on Thursday a decree allowing Telkom to raise telephone rates by between 17.62 percent and 17.9 percent for business customers, by between 13.79 percent and 13.97 percent for households and between 4.72 percent and 5.10 percent for charitable foundations.

The ministry also allowed Telkom to raise the rate for local phone calls by 17 percent and long distance calls by 13 percent

The phone rate increase was part of the government's three- year plan to crank up phone charges by 45.49 percent in a bid to help attract new investment in the fixed line telecommunication sector.