Telkom suffers $4.3m loss

Telkom suffers $4.3m loss

JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia
(Telkom) suffered losses of almost Rp 16 billion (US$4.3 million)
in line damages in the city last year.

Bambang Riadhy Demar, head of Telkom's division two, the areas
of which cover Jakarta and West Java, said yesterday that the
damages were mainly caused by infrastructure work, such as the
building of overpasses, underpasses and toll roads.

He noted that the damages caused by government projects
reached Rp 6 billion, and those caused by private projects stood
at Rp 9.9 billion.

"Government institutions just never paid us any compensation
for the damages," Bambang said. "And we could not force them to
pay because of a number of constraints in their budgets."

He explained that almost all private companies which damaged
telephone infrastructure paid compensation to Telkom, but most of
the payments were below Telkom's claim value.

"What cost us more was the maintenance of the repaired lines.
You know, repaired lines are always not as strong as the original
ones," Bambang said. (rid)