Telkom service in Banten, W. Java disrupted
Telkom service in Banten, W. Java disrupted
BANDUNG, West Java (JP): Some 1,500 employees of state-owned
telecommunications company PT Telkom from regional division
(Divre) III marched to the West Java provincial council on
Monday, demanding the council and local administration push the
central government to set up an emergency management for the
division which oversees Banten and West Java.
"A transitional management is needed now. Services to West
Java and Banten customers are hampered because there are no
operational funds," deputy chairman of Telkom employees' union I
Ketut Tedja said.
They claimed that since the termination of cooperation between
the division and its partner PT Ariawest International (PT AWI)
over a management dispute, the division has been stagnant.
They said that there had been no delegation of authority or
responsibility since general manager Michael Lee Towne was
withdrawn by PT AWI, causing a shortage on the release of
operational funds.
Tedja said that consequently the billing of hundreds of
thousands of customers has been delayed as telephone bills were
not printed.
Another 90,000 new telephone customers applications could not
be processed.
Tedja further disclosed that since Thursday, more than 10,000
telephone connections in Rangkasbitung and Cianjur had broken
down as there were no funds to repair a damaged automatic
connection installation.
"Actually since April six central automatic connection
installations have broken down. We are unable to fix them because
there are no funds," Ahmad Yahya, who is head of the
Rangkasbitung Telkom office, told the councillors.
The employees union said they were forced to stage a rally
because they were embarrassed by the many complaints received.
"We don't know how to explain to them (customers). The
disputes inside the company are really not their concern," Tedja
charged.
In a separate closed meeting, West Java Governor R. Nuriana
also aired his concern over the disrupted telephone services.
The Telkom employees threatened to stage more rallies if their
demands were not fulfilled. (25)