Telkomsel focuses on customer services

Telkomsel focuses on customer services

Amid increasingly various mobile telecommunications services,
what else can a cellular operator offer to users? Telkomsel said
that it has improved customer care services to stay in the lead
of keen rivalry in Indonesia's cellular business.

Telkomsel's director of operations, Laurens Bulters, said that
nowadays, cellular operators were mostly known as cellular
service providers.

"We are working constantly on improving our services. This
starts with communications between the front and back offices.
The front office must know what kind of programs effect the
service are running in the back office. While the back office
must know the appreciation of our customer," said Bulters.

"We are always thinking about, doing and controlling the
integration. Of course, yes today we have not yet reached 100
percent of our standard," he said.

He said Telkomsel is committed to constant improvement in the
quality of its coverage area throughout Indonesia.

Telkomsel is committed to strive to be a World Class Operator,
achieving the status of an international standard GSM operator in
Indonesia by combining strong, reliable service and
professionalism, technology, marketing and efficient business
management, he said.

"We are committed to operating throughout Indonesia's 27
provinces. We were the first operator to reach this goal already
in 1997, and we are the only one to have been able to maintain
this." he said.

Telkomsel has also enhanced its image as the number one
telecom company in Indonesia by promoting customer satisfaction
through fast, reliable and friendly service, in line with the
company motto leading in quality and service, he said.

Indonesia has seven cellular operators. Three are Global
System for Mobile communications (GSM) operators: Satelindo,
Telkomsel and Excelcomindo, while the others are Advanced Mobile
Phone System and Nordic Mobile Telecommunications operators.

Telkomsel is the first operator to provide GSM coverage in all
Indonesia's provinces, in more than 330 cities. Over 1,050 Base
Transceiver Stations and 22 Mobile Switching Centers support
this.

Telkomsel has signed international roaming agreements with
some 45 countries in all continents of the world for users'
convenience when abroad as well as foreigners visiting Indonesia.

It also has a mission to make the cell phone or handset not
just an instrument for the urban rich, but rather a public
utility allowing people from all levels of society to benefit
from and use the services. To achieve this, the company has
issued two major products: postpaid kartuHALO, and prepaid
simPATI cards, which offer less features but users can control
their usage.

KartuHALO, the company's Subscriber Identity Module card
(SIM), is guaranteed to give users the full range of GSM
advantages like security (free from tapping, multiplexing and
cloning), accessibility, affordability, high quality and wide
coverage area. Besides the "standard" facility of being able to
make and receive calls anywhere and anytime, kartuHALO offers
value-added services at no or very limited added cost.

"With kartuHALO, users can put the world into their hands.
This card also offers a wide range of services including voice
mail service and Short Message Service, international roaming and
online billing information. Fax messaging can be stored and
retrieved by any fax machine. This is another exclusive Telkomsel
innovation," Bulters said.

Bulters said an element of success for a service company,
particularly in the tight competition of cellular communications
industry, is the quality of customer services.

"We must be able to respond to all the needs and problems of
the customers; any time, anywhere; fast, correctly and
sympathetically.

"To provide 24-hour customer service, Telkomsel has introduced
the Call Center and Caroline (Customer Care On-Line) and a
nationwide call center network to answer and solve our customers'
needs and problems."

He said personal services needed integrated infrastructure,
which would make operators easily reached by customers.
Representative offices, particularly for services, were important
for the customers, he added.

"As a market leader, Telkomsel operates 57 representative
offices called GraPARI (Grha Pari Sraya). As service centers and
operational offices, GraPARI is Telkomsel's daily activity motor
in giving the best service to customers, company operational
activities and also product sales counter," he said.

He added that although one of its functions is as Telkomsel's
product sales counter for kartuHALO, simPATI and rechargeable
vouchers, GraPARI plays more roles as customer service centers.

"GraPARI is prepared to bring Telkomsel closer to its
customers. All kinds of customer problems will be solved and
receive the best solution at GraPARIs because GraPARI has
complete facilities to support the best service to the
customers," he said.

Among these services are: meeting our frontline staff, 24-hour
customer telephone service and billing status information by
dialing 333.

To serve simPATI users, users can know the latest status of
their credit in rupiah by dialing *888#. Information is
immediately displayed on the handsets.

"By using the GraPARI name for Telkomsel's operational and
service center offices, TELKOMSEL has, again, another unique
characteristic that proves it the most innovative operator in
Indonesia." Bulters said, adding that GraPARIs are operational in
all major cities throughout the Indonesian Archipelago.

For kartuHALO users, Telkomsel also provides easy choice of
payment by collaborating with several banks allowing them to pay
by cash, auto-debit or via Automated Teller Machines. People who
buy simPATI cards or vouchers can go to a Fuji Image Plaza,
authorized dealer, phone shop, GraPARI or use BCA bank ATMs.
SimPATI users can buy a voucher and recharge their credits
through ATMs.

Bulters said that the best way to win the whole competition
among cellular operators was to give customers the best service
day by day better than the others do.