USO program provides phone access to remote villages

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.