Telkom to fine PT Daya Mitra for tardiness
Telkom to fine PT Daya Mitra for tardiness
JAKARTA (JP): PT Daya Mitra Malindo, one of the five private
consortia awarded 15-year joint operation contracts for domestic
telecommunication services, will face a penalty by the end of
next month if it fails to start operating in Kalimantan.
President of the state-owned PT Telkom, Setyanto P. Santosa,
said yesterday that Daya Mitra will have to pay a fine to his
company owing to the delayed project in Kalimantan.
"Up till now there has been no communication between Telkom
and Daya Mitra. But we are giving Daya Mitra one more chance to
resolve its internal problems," he said. "Daya Mitra has a 90-day
opportunity (since Jan. 1 this year) to resolve the problems or
it will have to pay the penalty."
He refused to put a figure on the penalty.
The government selected the five consortia for the joint
operation contracts to lay and operate about two million
telephone lines in the country's five regions over a 15-year
period. The contracts officially started in early January.
Daya Mitra groups ALatieF Corporation, PT Intidaya
Sistelindomitra and tea producers' cooperative Kopthindo of
Indonesia, Telekom Malaysia Bhd., Singapore-based American
International Group Inc. and TM Communications of Hong Kong. The
consortium was originally required to install and operate 237,000
phone lines in Kalimantan by 1999 for 15 years.
Telekom Malaysia said recently that it was ready to quit the
project if there was no solution to the differences with the
Indonesian partners.
Informed sources said that the main problem concerned
differences in the valuation of per-line investments for
telephone installations.
In addition to Daya Mitra, there are four other consortia
which won the rights for four other areas. Telkom handed over
last month telecoms networks and facilities in the four areas
(Sumatra, West Java, eastern provinces and Sulawesi) to each of
the winning consortia.
The five projects are part of the government's program to
install five million telephone lines within the current Sixth
Five-Year Development Plan period, which ends in March 1999.
Three million of the total will be installed in the greater
Jakarta area and East Java, which will both remain under the
management and operation of Telkom.
The contracts are estimated to generate total revenues of Rp
15.25 trillion (about US$6.6 billion) for Telkom within the
contract period.
Setyanto said yesterday that Telkom, for the first time, had
received US$100 million in initial investor payments from the
consortia.
"We should have received US$105 million, but Daya Mitra has
failed to pay its $5 million," he said.
He also said that as of Feb. 14, Telkom would begin receiving
Minimum Telkom Revenues (MTR), the payments for the joint
operation contracts.
Setyanto also said yesterday that Telkom's unaudited net
profit in 1995 was estimated to exceed Rp 827 billion (US$357.38
million), the level targeted in the prospectus for the company's
public flotation.
"Telkom's revenues in 1995 were estimated to exceed the Rp
5.03 trillion level promised by the company in its prospectus,"
he said.
Telkom sold some of its shares domestically and overseas last
November. (08/icn)