Wrong data about telephone tariffs

The table showing an international comparison of telephone tariffs on page 12 of the Nov. 19 issue of The Jakarta Post contains numerous errors and is misleading. The tariffs of other countries expressed in U.S. dollars have not been changed with the depreciation of the rupiah. Thus, all data except those for Indonesia are wrong in the five columns with the heading "USD Rp 3,200". The whole comparison misses its point.

Additionally, the columns under "Local call/minute" should have had three decimal spaces to be readable. Furthermore, the telephone density figures for at least the Philippines and Indonesia are shown ten times too small. All these errors actually contradict the good intentions of the whole presentation, i.e. to show that calls in Indonesia are now even cheaper than before on an international scale.

If this product of a sleepy spreadsheet operator has been distributed to the House of Representatives, it might be reasonable to ask the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications for an official correction.

HENRIK NYQVIST

Jakarta