Telselindo's service may be delayed

JAKARTA (JP): Cellular phone company PT Telselindo Nusantara maybe unable to begin operations early next year as originally planned because the government said it would not issue any more operating licenses this year.

"We will not issue any more licenses in the near future," Director General of Posts and Telecommunications Djamhari Sirat said at the Asia Pacific Telecom 2001 exhibition here.

"The government needs to study first whether the frequency is available, whether the market is viable, and it needs further study before a license can be granted," he said.

Telselindo Nusantara recently signed a US$300 million partnership agreement with British company Inquam Limited to develop cellular services based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology.

The company had expected to begin its services early next year and had expressed optimism that the government would grant it an operating license some time this year.

"Well they can say whatever they want or make any planning they want," Djamhari said.

The government last awarded state-owned telecommunications companies PT Telkom and PT Indosat with nationwide operating licenses to operate cellular services using the DCS-1800 system in August last year.

The two giants will compete with existing operators for a piece of the lucrative cellular market.

Operators holding nationwide operating licenses include PT Telkomsel, PT Satelindo, and PT Excelcomindo Pratama, which operate under the global system for mobile communications (GSM); and the Nordic Mobile Telephones (NMT) operator PT Mobisel.

Mobisel plans to switch to the more advanced (CDMA) system in March next year and has allocated $200 million for the shift.

Besides operating licenses for nationwide operations, the government has also granted licenses to several companies to operate regionally.

The companies include advanced mobile phone systems (AMPS) operators PT Telesera in the southern part of Sumatra and Kalimantan, PT Komselindo in the northern part of Sumatra, West Java, Jakarta and Sulawesi, and PT Metrosel in Central Java and East Java.

Regional operations licenses have also been issued to several operators using the DCS-1800 system. They are PT Astratel for Sumatra, PT AriaWest International for West Java, PT Inti for Jakarta, PT Mitra for Central Java, PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler for East Java, PT Primarindo for Kalimantan, and PT Kodel for Bali and Sulawesi. (tnt)