Telkom promises faster installation

Telkom promises faster installation

JAKARTA: PT Telkom yesterday said that new telephone lines in Jakarta should be connected from the moment they are installed and that subscribers should no longer wait a long time.

Chief of Telkom Jakarta John Welly told reporters that the state telecommunication company is willing to compensate for any delay to the tune of 10 telephone pulses free for every day a subscriber has to wait.

John, however, qualified his statement by saying that in some areas in Jakarta it is still not possible to ensure that a telephone is connected on the same day it is installed. In these areas, the 10 free pulse offer is valid only if Telkom cannot connect the telephone on the promised date.

The move is part of Telkom's drive to improve its services. The company slashed the cost of installing telephones beginning this month but its plan to increase the cost of local city calls was shelved after strong public criticism.

John said there were 926,377 telephone subscribers in Greater Jakarta at the end of 1994, including 57,773 mobile phone subscribers.

Last year, Telkom Jakarta managed to install only 199,277 lines, well below the target of 291,292 telephone lines, he said.

"We plan to market 374,064 telephone lines in 1995, meaning there will be more than 1.33 million subscribers by the end of this year," he said. He added that Telkom will install 33,215 pay phones, including 5,687 units using phone cards, within the city and its suburbs, in 1995.

John said that under Telkom's newly revamped structure, the Jakarta office also covers Purwakarta, Merak and Cisarua which were previously handled by Telkom's West Java chapter. (icn)