Unfair revenue format protested

Unfair revenue format protested

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Indonesian Telecommunications
Kiosks Operators (APWI) demanded on Thursday that the government
revise its current 20 percent:80 percent revenue sharing
arrangement with state-owned domestic telecommunications monopoly
PT Telkom.

APWI chairman Ahmad S. Daulay asked the Ministry of
Communications to double the kiosks operators' share to 40
percent.

"If the revenue arrangement is not revised immediately,
telephone kiosks operators throughout the country will stop
providing their services," the chairman of the 15,000-strong
association warned.

He was speaking to reporters following a meeting with
officials from the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for
Economy, Finance and Industry.

Ahmad asked the government for fair treatment, pointing out
that Telkom only invested Rp 10 million (US$1,300) for each
telephone kiosk compared to Rp 60 million invested by the private
operator.

He added that telephone kiosk operators envied the large
foreign joint operation scheme (KSO) partners of Telkom who had
been granted a lucrative 90 percent:10 percent revenue sharing
arrangement by the authority.

Five foreign KSO investors were appointed by the government to
install and manage fixed-line telecommunications services in
various parts of the country.

"This kind of discrimination in the telecommunications
industry must be reformed," Ahmad said.

He explained that the kiosks operators' revenue had declined
by about 40 percent since the economic crisis started in July
last year, particularly due to the unfair revenue sharing
arrangements with Telkom.

He said that telephone kiosks contributed about 18 percent of
Telkom's 1997 revenue.

As a comparison, the foreign KSO operators contributed about
27 percent to Telkom's 1997 revenue. (rei)