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)