Telkomsel to spend big on sevice

Telkomsel to spend big on sevice

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkomsel, a global system for mobile
communication (GSM) operator, will invest Rp 710 billion (US$300
million) this year to improve the quality of its services, an
executive said yesterday.

Telkomsel operations director Garuda Sugardo (right) said in a
partnership workshop his company would spend most of the money on
increasing the number of its base transceiver stations (BTS) from
120 to 412.

He said that in installing the BTS the company would cooperate
with its vendors.

Telkomsel president Koesmarihati Sugondo (center) -- flanked
by Motorola Indonesia's operations director Erik von Essen
(left) said that with Motorola International Inc. of the United
States, for example, her company would install BTSs in greater
Jakarta area, West Java, Kalimantan and North Sulawesi with a Rp
12 billion investment.

Besides Motorola, Telkomsel also procures equipment from
Ericsson of Sweden and Siemens of Germany.

Garuda said Telkomsel was still inviting other vendors to help
improve its services.

He said with service improvement Telkomsel, which serves
200,000 subscribers, would expand its service to 270 cities
throughout the country and serve about 400,000 subscribers by the
end of the year.

In Jakarta, which is the key market for cellular operators,
Telkomsel has about 80,000 subscribers, he said.

Besides Telkomsel, Indonesia also has two other GSM operators
-- PT Excelcomindo Pratama and PT Satelindo -- both of which
serve about 400,000 subscribers.

Garuda said Telkomsel needed its vendors' cooperation in
research development, engineering support, product innovation,
transfer of know-how and maintenance support.

He said his company aimed to get an ISO-9000 certificate for
its service this year and to improve its call success rate.

Telkomsel is 42.72 percent owned by the state-owned PT Telkom,
25 percent by state-owned PT Indosat, 17.28 percent by PTT
Telecom of the Netherlands, and 5 percent by the Setdco Group.
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