TelkomFlexi moves to meet 3m subscribers target

TelkomFlexi moves to meet 3m subscribers target

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's leading fixed-wireless service operator TelkomFlexi
is upbeat that its target for three million new customers will be
achieved this year, with the help of its new promotion program.

As of March 2005, the number of Flexi subscribers reached 1.9
million, or already up by 26.66 percent from its 1.5 million
subscribers at the end of 2004.

To help boost the number of subscribers Flexi will be
launching a new and ambitious two-and-a-half-month marketing
campaign called Gratis Berbulan-bulan (free for months). The
program offers every new Flexi customer during the campaign
period of April 11 to June 30 a free Rp 25,000 (US$2.65) bonus
voucher every month if they purchase at least Rp 50,000 in
vouchers.

"We are optimistic that the new program will lure at least
500,000 new customers to sign up," said PT Telkom's network
business director Suryatin Setiawan. Telkom is the parent company
of TelkomFlexi.

Aside from providing customer incentives, the company is also
investing Rp 1.7 trillion to expand its network coverage. The
company plans to build 500 new base transceiver stations in
addition to its existing 1,200. The coverage will also expand
from 216 cities to 232 cities nationwide.

Setiawan said at its current growth rate, Flexi should become
the country's number three operator of cellular services,
overtaking Excelcomindo, which currently has about four million
customers.

Fixed-wireless services, which use a form of the Code Division
Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, are phone services with
limited cellular mobility in a designated area. The service was
first introduced here two years ago.

Cellular services using GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communications) technology, meanwhile, have been in use in
Indonesia since the 1990s.

The number one cellular service operator, with 50 percent
market share, is currently Telkomsel, also TelkomFlexi's sister
company. Telkomsel presently has 17.5 million customers.

PT Indosat follows in second place with almost 10 million
customers, representing an increase of 65 percent over its 2003
figure.

Other fixed-wireless operators are also expecting rapid growth
in 2005. Mobile-8 Telecom expects its Fren customers to triple
from 500,000 to 1.5 million, while PT Bakrie Telecom expects
users of its Esia service to jump from 300,000 to 800,000. Data
for Starone, Indosat's fixed-wireless operator, was not
available.