Telkom suffers Rp 690m loss due to riots

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkom lost an estimated Rp 690 million (US$281,747) due to equipment damage in riots during the election campaign period in May, the state-owned telecommunications firm's president Asman A. Nasution said yesterday.

"Telecommunications equipment including cables, central exchanges and public phones were damaged during the riots, particularly in Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan)," he told members of the House of Representatives in a hearing.

But he said the losses would not affect Telkom's total revenue this year.

He said Telkom had tried to repair the damaged facilities for the public's sake.

Riots in Indonesian towns during the election period claimed more than one hundred lives, injured many more and caused widespread damage.

Nasution said the biggest losses were in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan and Tasikmalaya, West Java.

Joint operations

Telkom reported a net profit of Rp 398.95 billion in the first quarter this year, 29.87 percent more than in the same period last year.

The company booked a net profit of Rp 1.5 trillion in 1996, a 65.76 percent increase over Rp 795 billion in 1995.

Nasution said that as of 31 March, Telkom had received Rp 1.9 trillion from five private firms assigned to develop and operate telecommunications networks under joint operational contracts.

Under the 15-year contracts, the five firms started the projects on Jan. 1, 1996 in their designated areas; Sumatra, West Java, Central Java, Kalimantan and eastern Indonesia.

"The five private firms are required to install 2.05 million lines by March 1996, the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan. As of March 31, they had installed 139,421 lines," Nasution said.

He also said Telkom had 17 affiliated firms dealing with cellular, satellite, multimedia and building development business.

Among Telkom's newly established subsidiaries are PT Indonusa Telemedia and PT Multimedia Nusantara which will operate multimedia non-telephony services and PT Menara Jakarta which will develop Menara Jakarta, the country's tallest tower, in Kemayoran.

Nasution dismissed suggestions that an Indonesian telephone could be tapped.

"Only God knows (how to tap telephone lines)," he said, about House member Soetjipto's concern that his telephone in Surabaya, East Java, was being tapped. (icn)