Telkom, Japanese plan cable project

Telkom, Japanese plan cable project

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned telecommunications company PT
Telkom yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with a
Japanese consortium for the installation of fiber-optic cables in
South Jakarta.

In the agreement with the Japanese companies Fujitsu and
Furukawa, PT Telkom has replaced 500 copper telephone cables with
fiber-optic cables in Pondok Indah Mall, Pondok Indah Plaza, and
the surrounding business areas.

The president of PT Telkom, Setyanto P. Santosa, said
yesterday that the company will complete the installation of
300,000 fiber-optic lines in the city's business centers by 1997.

The company will also extend the project to other cities such
as Surabaya, Bandung and Medan. The same project trial will start
in Surabaya next week, he said.

Setyanto said PT Telkom has an policy to install fiber-optic
lines in government offices, other business centers, and public
places that have high telephone densities by 2005.

"Homes are still far off in the future," he said.

According to him, fiber-optic cables are more efficient in
terms of space usage and maintenance. It will also serve as a
good preparation for future Multi Media infrastructure
technology, he said.

Setyono said that telephones with this new technology will
prove to provide better sound quality and have less background
noise.

The investment in the project runs to Rp 3 billion
($1,350,000), twice as much as the cost of copper-wire
technology.

The general manager of Fujitsu, Hikoe Inobe, said that
Indonesia has used fiber-optic cables for specialized uses for 10
years.

But using the latest technology for telephone subscribers is a
first, Setyono added.

He said Indonesia is the second country in Asia, after
Malaysia, to have implemented this technology. (03)