Yellow Pages enter the Internet
Yellow Pages enter the Internet
JAKARTA (JP): Internet lovers are now able to view advertisements from Indonesia's Yellow Pages published by PT Infomedia Nusantara through IdOLA, an Internet service provided by PT Aplikanusa Lintasarta.
The two firms signed an agreement yesterday to establish the new service.
Lintasarta's president, Taufik Akbar, said that in the last few years, the Internet service had improved significantly in the country.
"In the 1994 to 1995 period, total hosts and domains increased by 119 percent and 137 percent respectively," he said.
He said that there were currently more than 4.85 million listed hosts and 71,000 domain names.
"Just imagine if each host was operated by 10 people, then there would be almost 50 million Indonesians using the Internet services."
Commercial use of the Internet in Indonesia was introduced in September 1994. There are currently more than 20 Internet providers in the country.
According to Taufik -- one of the three former Indonesian would-be astronauts who were never in space -- the new service was to encourage businesses to advertise on the Internet.
Lintasarta, set up in April 1988, is 25 percent owned by PT Telkom and 18.8 percent by PT Indosat, both state-owned telecommunications operators, 7.5 percent by PT Telekomindo, 45 percent by various banks' employees foundations and 3.7 percent by cooperatives.
Meanwhile, Infomedia Nusantara is currently 70 percent owned by PT Elnusa, a subsidiary of state-owned oil company Pertamina, 15 percent by the pension fund of Pertamina's employees and 15 percent by Telkom. Telkom will gradually acquire 51 percent of Elnusa Yellow Pages shares by 1998, while Elnusa is to hold the remaining 49 percent.
Infomedia's president, Sofyan Rais, said yesterday that during a three-month trial, his company would study whether advertisers are to be charged for the new service through IdOLA or not.
Yesterday, Infomedia Nusantara also introduced Halo Yellow, a new directory assistance service specially for advertisements. (icn)