USO program provides phone access to remote villages

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Talaud, North Sulawesi

This Christmas will mark two years since Rosali Maarial last saw her granddaughter Jesinta. The 5-year-old lives with her mother in Manado, a 24-hour boat trip southwest from Rosali's village Gemeh on the island of Karakelong in Talaud.

Last Tuesday evening, Rosali, her husband Toni Lia and their daughter Eti Lia walked through the dark -- the promised street lighting had not yet arrived -- to the house of Elmer Laira, a teacher at the local junior high school.

"Good evening, could we use the telephone?" Eti said as they walked through the open door. Three hours earlier mechanics from PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) had installed a satellite telephone in the house and already the news had spread through the village.

Rosali's eyes lit up as she heard her only grandchild's voice on the line. Toni and Eti were smiling from ear to ear as they waited to speak to Jesinta.

The satellite telephone was provided by the government-funded Universal Service Obligation (USO) program, partly run by PSN, a subsidiary of state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telkom.

In 2003, PSN installed 2,975 telephones in villages without access to fixed-line telephones. This year, the company acquired a contract to install satellite phones in some 1,610 rural areas, including Gemeh.

It was not the first time the villagers, most of whom are fishermen and farmers, encountered a telephone. Two years ago, the community got a whiff of telecommunications technology when the then Sangihe Talaud regency administration -- the area has since been divided into two separate regencies, Sangihe and Talaud -- provided a similar telephone and a local businessman procured another set.

"The telephone from the administration has been broken for the past year," said village chief Julian Ambana. Although very popular -- Rp 600,000 (US$65.25) worth of pulses were spent within two weeks -- the phone caused problems because there was no pulse meter and it was difficult to get vouchers.

"We had to go to Manado to get pulse vouchers," said Julian. Even if somebody there could get them the vouchers, villagers had to go to the regency's capital Beo, a four-hour boat trip, to transfer the money. A return trip to Beo, including food, costs about Rp 100,000.

Since the administration's telephone broke, the 215 families in the village have turned to the local businessman to make phone calls, most often to their children going to school in Beo or Manado. The village only has an elementary school and a junior high school.

"We have to ring our children to watch over them. Otherwise, they'll feel abandoned," said resident Yopi Liungsanda, whose daughter is in her second year of high school in Manado.

But the calls on the businessman's phone were expensive. "You pick up the phone and already the meter shows Rp 5,000," said Yopi. "But this is a business for him."

Although the technology is the same, under the USO program people will pay less for phone calls.

"Wow, only Rp 12,000," said Eti, hanging up the phone after speaking for about six minutes. "At the other place it would cost four times as much."

However, the question of how to get vouchers and maintenance remains. PSN has promised to set up an agent in Beo who will come every month to bring vouchers and perform maintenance on the phone.

In the meantime, the predominantly Christian village will make the best of its new telephone. "This is the best Christmas present for us," said Rosali with a big smile.