Telkom to market 600,000 digital cellular telephone lines

JAKARTA (JP): Investors in Batam and Bintan, two islands south of Singapore, will be able to communicate with cellular telephones next month, when their global system for mobile (GSM) telecommunications begin operations.

The chief for the cellular telephone systems of the state- owned domestic telecommunications company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), Garuda Sugardo, told a press conference here yesterday that the Rp 12 billion (US$5.58 million) facility, constructed under a pilot project, will undergo a soft operation next month and will be dedicated in July.

The facility's service will initially cover Medan in North Sumatra, Pekanbaru in Riau, Java and Singapore, he said, adding that the service will be expanded to areas throughout Indonesia in the coming years.

He said that the facility is being constructed by Telkom in cooperation with the state-owned telephone equipment manufacturer PT Industri Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Inti), Siemens AG of Germany and Ericsson of Sweden.

According to Garuda, Telkom and PT Satelindo will market the service under an agreement with the international GSM management based in Dublin, Ireland.

Satelindo, operating in the satellite and cellular telephone business, is 30 percent owned by Telkom, 10 percent by the state- owned international telecommunications company PT Indosat and 60 percent by PT Bima Graha, an affiliate of PT Bimantara Citra.

"The facility will compete with cellular systems in Singapore," Garuda said. "Our prices will be about the same as those charged by Singapore."

GSM is one of the three leaders in digital cellular mobile telephone phone systems. The other two are the American Digital Cellular (ADC) of the United States and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) of Japan.

Garuda also said yesterday that Telkom, after the success of the pilot project, plans to market at least 600,000 digital cellular telephone lines within the next six years.

In Indonesia there are currently 60,000 analog cellular telephone lines in operation which is only 0.24 percent of the 25 million lines operated worldwide.

Garuda said the rapid expansion is expected to help lower the prices of cellular hand phones from about US$1,000 at present to $200 by the year 2000.

The current cost for installation actually reaches about $1,300 to $1,500 per line.(icn)