Telkom lodges counter suit
Telkom lodges counter suit
BANDUNG, West Java (JP): State-owned telecommunications
company PT Telkom will lodge a counter complaint on Aug. 29
against its joint operation partner PT AriaWest International, a
senior executive revealed on Wednesday.
Telkom vice president for corporate communications Eddy
Praptono said that the complaint, to be filed at the
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), was filed in response to
similar action taken by AriaWest against Telkom in May.
AriaWest, which operates telephone services in the regions of
West Java and Banten, lodged a complaint with the ICC demanding
US$1.3 billion for losses incurred through Telkom's alleged
breaches of the joint operation scheme (KSO) agreement.
Eddy declined to state Telkom's demands as the document was
still being drafted by the company's special team handling the
Telkom-AriaWest dispute.
The protracted dispute between Telkom and AriaWest centers on
the Telkom's buy-out price of AriaWest's assets and operations.
The dispute has resulted in the degradation of
telecommunications services in West Java and Bandung, as well as
the neglect of Telkom's employees in the region who are managed
by AriaWest.
Last month, Telkom was forced to bail out its employees in the
two provinces by disbursing Rp 19.2 billion (about US$2 million)
for their July salaries.
The money was also used for the payment of electricity bills
amounting to Rp 1.3 billion and temporary operational costs, Eddy
said.
"Time and time again we have invited AriaWest to a meeting to
resolve the operational dispute in West Java and Banten, but they
(AriaWest) have never accepted," he told The Jakarta Post, adding
that the last time Telkom had extended an invitation to AriaWest
was last Wednesday, with the aim of discussing operational funds
needed for August.
Eddy said that, regarding financial requirements for
telecommunications services in the two provinces in August,
Telkom had so far agreed to pay Rp 8.6 billion for salary
purposes.
"Other costs for the basic operations of the regions are still
being discussed," he said, adding that the money would be
disbursed within two or three days. (25/tnt)