Telkom relinquishes telecoms management

Telkom relinquishes telecoms management

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned domestic telecommunications provider PT Telkom handed over the management of its telecommunications networks in Central Java to PT Mitra Global Telekomunikasi Indonesia in Semarang yesterday.

Telkom handed over its telecommunications networks in the country's eastern region -- Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara -- to PT Bukaka Singtel International on Jan. 3 and its networks in Sumatra to PT Pramindo Ikat Nusantara on Monday.

Mitra Guna, Aria and Pramindo are three of the five private consortia which won 15-year joint operation contracts with Telkom. The other two are PT Bukaka Singtel International and PT Daya Mitra Malindo.

Telkom signed the contracts last October with the five consortia, who will install some 2.25 million fixed-telephone lines and operate them alongside the existing lines.

Under the contracts, Mitra Global has to install 400,000 lines in Central Java, Aria 500,000 lines in West Java, Daya Mitra 237,000 lines in Kalimantan, with Bukaka Singtel to install 403,000 lines in the country's eastern region and Pramindo 540,000 lines in Sumatra within the next three years.

Mitra Global which groups state-owned PT Indosat, Telstra of Australia, NTT, Itochu and Sumitomo of Japan and various domestic companies, will have to pay Telkom a minimum revenue of Rp 300 billion (US$130.4 million) per year.

Telkom plans to hand over the networks in West Java to Aria West International on Friday, while the networks in Kalimantan will be handed over later this month to Daya Mitra Malindo.

The consortium of Daya Mitra, which groups ALatieF Corporation, TM Communications from Hong Kong and Malaysia Telecom still face internal disputes due to some different points of view on the planned telecommunications project in Kalimantan.

The problem has caused postponement of the handover which was originally planned to take place in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, today. (icn)