Telkom to finalize fixed-wireless project

Telkom to finalize fixed-wireless project

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom said on
Wednesday that it expected to finalize the tender of its fixed-
wireless services worth US$1 billion in mid-January as an
alternative to its existing wireline services.

Telkom's director of planning and technology Kristiono said
that the fixed-wireless service, based on the code division
multiple access (CDMA) technology, would provide alternative
telephone services in areas where the wireline had not
penetrated.

"We plan to build some 2.4 million telephone lines using the
CDMA fixed-wireless technology, in the hope of providing wider
access to telephone services," he said, on the sidelines of a
hearing with the House of Representative's Commission IV
overseeing infrastructure and transportation affairs.

The sluggish development of fixed-line telephones, caused by
lack of investment, had led Telkom to look for cheaper
alternatives in providing telecommunications services to the
public.

Kristiono said that fixed-wireless services would be cheaper
by 60 percent when compared to wireline services, as costs for
constructing underground cables could be kept low.

"Fixed-wireless services would be a lot cheaper, it is more
efficient and takes a shorter amount of time to implement," he
said.

Kristiono said that Telkom had opened the tender for the
fixed-wireless project earlier this month and that the
shortlisted candidates would be announced in the next couple of
weeks.

Telkom has offered the project to six vendors who will provide
the CDMA fixed wireless service (2 vendors), the switching and
optical access network (2 vendors) and the optical backbone
transmission (2 vendors).

The financing of the project will be split between the vendors
and Telkom, Kristiono said, with a possible arrangement whereby
70 percent of the costs would be provided by the vendors.

To date, there are 7.1 million fixed-lines in service as of
Sept. 30, an equivalent of 3.24 telephone lines for every 100
people.

The government expects to build 8.25 million telephone lines
next year, which would raise the coverage to 3.83 telephone lines
per 100 people.