Telselindo's service may be delayed
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)