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)