Tourist buses to have GSM telephones

JAKARTA (JP): PT Telkomsel plans to install later this year car-mounted telephones in tourist buses for the exclusive use of foreign visitors holding Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications system.

"We will also issue prepaid SIM cards to be used on public GSM phones," a Telkomsel director, Garuda Sugardo, said Tuesday.

He said that Telkomsel will soon conduct negotiations with selected travel agents to accomplish the plan and select the routes for the tourist buses. "We will use terminals prepared by Schlumberger of France," he added.

When commercially implemented, he said he expects the prepaid SIM cards to face competition.

Apart from Telkomsel, there are two other GSM operators in Indonesia -- PT Exelcomindo Pratama, which will commence operations later this year, and PT Satelindo, which currently controls the market in Greater Jakarta.

Innovative and diversified services for GSM subscribers are the only way to win the GSM market amid tight competition among the country's cellular telecommunications operators because tariffs are arranged by the government.

Telkomsel has long planned the installation of public GSM phones but has delayed installation because its equipment suppliers abroad have failed to support it.

Garuda said that as part of his company's efforts to improve services, Telkomsel also plans to set up a subsidiary which will provide distribution services.

"The planned arm will be called PT Kartu Halo Laris Manis (Kharisma). Telkomsel, which will be a major stockholder, will ask a number of distributors and agents to participate in the ownership of the planned company," he said.

Telkomsel currently operates in Jakarta, North Sumatra, Riau, West, Central and East Java, Yogyakarta and Bali with some 80,000 subscribers. The company plans to expand its operations to Kalimantan and Sulawesi next month. (icn)