Telkomsel makes technology more user-friendly

Telkomsel makes technology more user-friendly

Technology, especially information technology (IT) in the
cellular telephone industry, is being developed continuously to
make life smoother, allowing people to have ease to be keep well-
informed and accessible.

GSM operator PT Telkomsel has proven itself a leading company
when it comes to adopting the latest technology to improve its
services to customers.

Telkomsel's director of operation, Laurens J.M. Bulters, said
the company tried to offer useful features based on the latest IT
developments.

"Telkomsel always introduces new technology to its customers,
and adopts it as the most useful for to them," he said.

For example, based on the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP),
Telkomsel will introduce more services to its customer in this
first quarter. WAP allows people to get data and information from
the Internet on their cell phones.

"The services will include information on flight schedules and
freight services from the capital's Soekarno Hatta Airport," said
Bulters.

He said Telkomsel would also introduce an innovative service
allowing customers to find an Internet address via their handset,
adding that the service would be available by middle of this
year.

Telkomsel always collaborates with other services to provide
the content of information for WAP-based services.

Telkomsel has also launched a mobile banking service for its
kartuHALO postpaid card users. They can use this mobile-banking
facility for account-statement checking, fund transfers, details
on their last five transactions, monthly billing charge payments
(electricity, water, telephones, credit cards and kartuHALO, and
interest-rate information.

"What we have done is for customer satisfaction. We always
believe that it's our task to handle the technology, so the
customers can enjoy better services," Bulters said.

Telkomsel also tries to offer top-quality service not only to
kartuHALO users, but also to its prepaid simPATI card holders.

Though simPATI users have some limitations in services, they
still enjoy convenience in buying vouchers to refill their pulses
through Automatic Teller Machines (ATM). And now, they can also
enjoy auto refill by dialing several banks or through the Website
www.telkomsel.com. But they must be credit-card holders of banks
which have a set alliance with Telkomsel.

Achievement awards

Telkomsel has won several awards due to its efforts in
maintaining customer satisfaction and leading the market.

Last year, it won the Indonesian Customer Satisfaction Award
in the GSM prepaid card category. In 1999, Telkomsel grabbed the
same award in the GSM service category.

Indeed, rivalry among mobile telecommunications services in
Indonesia is getting fiercer, and each player competes to
introduce features as well as value-added services, aimed to meet
customer satisfaction.

Bulters said that in addition to the Indonesian Customer
Satisfaction Award in the GSM prepaid card category, Telkomsel
had also won two other awards in 2001.

"The Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) in a late year edition
chose Telkomsel as one of the 200 leading companies in Asia. SWA
economic magazine in its January 2001 edition selected Telkomsel
as one of the more or less 40 most innovative companies in
Indonesia," he said.

Based on FEER's selection, Telkomsel was ranked ninth in the
10 leading companies in Indonesia. These companies, including
Telkomsel, which was one among the newcomers in the Hong Kong-
based magazine's polling, were highlighted for various items and
criteria, he said.

He said that 2000 could be dubbed as the year of achievement
for Telkomsel.

More services

Telkomsel now controls 1.7 million users. More than one
million of that figure are prepaid card users.

Bulters said that more people preferred to use prepaid cards
due to their convenience and because they could control usage.

"Prepaid card users do not have to complete administrative
processes which may take a while. Mostly they can control
expenses and do not have to pay monthly billings," he said.

Telkomsel provides more facilities to its postpaid users.

According to Bulters, among the services for kartuHALO users
are HALOkeluarga, HALOclub and HALOpoin.

HALOkeluarga is a kind of package for special groups which
offers special tariffs and treatments. HALOclub allows users to
enjoy discounts at dozens of stores. HALOpoin allows users to
save points in their usage, benefiting them in the next usage.

Leading

Telkomsel, incorporated in May 1995, is owned by PT Telkom, PT
Indosat, KPN Royal Dutch Telecom and PT Setdco Megacell Asia.

The company operates more than 1,400 base transceiver stations
(BTS) across Indonesia; Telkomsel has also pledged to offer and
expand good coverage and areas.

Bulters said that over 500 additional BTS are planned for this
year. "We always aim to fill any gaps and improve quality."

He said Telkomsel would install BTS in areas with significant
economic activities, including Sumatra, Kalimantan and Irian
Jaya.

"There are many big multinational companies dealing with oil
and mining in the areas which rely on our services, so we have to
always maintain and improve the services," he said.

Telkomsel has been the leader in the country's cellular
industry due to its maintained and innovative services. The
company is committed to operating throughout Indonesia, and
remains the only operator to have been able to maintain the
pledge.

Indonesia has seven cellular providers operating three
systems, including three GSM 900 operators.

However, competition in digital cell-phone services will be
much tighter this year as more providers will begin operations
later this year. A number of new cell-phone providers will
operate the GSM 1800, nationwide and regionally.

"Yes, the competition will be fiercer. But Telkomsel is not
afraid as we are secure in our market. We hope all the new
players will work within a framework of healthy competition,"
Bulters said.

He said that technically, when each operator gained equal
amounts of frequency, competition would also be much more
competitive.

He added that Telkomsel, though, would always improve its
services and introduce more innovative features and services to
its customers.