Telkomsel

Telkomsel

From Media Indonesia

I have been a subscriber to Telkomsel's GSM cellular telephone
for a few months. Their service was satisfactory. Every month I
received my bill by mail with specification, free of charge.

On Feb. 17 I received a message saying: "Dear subscriber,
starting from period I of 1997, the specification of the bill
will be charged Rp 2,500. If you do not want the specification,
call 021-3900811 or 111 on the toll free HP."

I was dumbfounded by Telkomsel's one-sided logic. Telkomsel
has intentionally lowered the quality of its service. If
subscribers want a reinstatement of the service, they have to pay
Rp 2,500.

If there were 150,000 subscribers, for example, Telkomsel
would receive an additional Rp 375 million a month, or Rp 4.5
billion in one year.

I would like to "congratulate" Telkomsel on their "creativity"
in finding additional income and at the same time reducing
consumers' access to control the specification sheet.

Is that the fate of consumers in this country? Service is only
lip service. Is it the inevitable consequence of monopoly (or
oligopoly) in telecommunications?

SATRIO ARISMUNANDAR

Jakarta