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.