Wrong data about telephone tariffs

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