INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT WILL GIVE ANOTHER INT'L CALL SERVICE LICENSE

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta: The government plans to allow another telecommunications company to provide direct international call services in competition with the two existing operators, PT Indosat and PT Telkom Indonesia.

Information and Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the new license would be sold by way of auction to an existing telecommunications firm.

"But, as the issuance of the new license is aimed at reducing Internet bandwidth tariffs, the license will only be given to a company willing to develop a fiber-optic network connecting Indonesia and other countries," he said after inaugurating a new Information Access Center (IAC) at the head office of state postal services operator PT Pos Indonesia.

He said that existing telecommunications companies would be allowed to participate in the auction. However, he added that the government would give priority to firms with large customer bases.

In Indonesia, 50 percent of Internet access uses global bandwidth.

Sofyan said that if Indonesia had fiber-optic connections to countries like Hong Kong and Singapore, bandwidth tariffs could be reduced.

For example, the bandwidth tariff in Indonesia (using Telkom's Speedy service) was about Rp 300,000 (about US$32) for internet use of 500 megabytes per month, with a connection speed of 20 kilobytes per second, while in Australia customers could access unlimited bandwidth for only $45 per month.

Sofyan said that the government was making serious efforts to increase Internet access in Indonesia.

According to figures supplied by the Indonesian Association of Internet Providers, 16 million people in Indonesia currently have access to the Internet.

Sofyan also said that a new joint venture between local and foreign companies would build an undersea communications network connecting Java and other islands in Indonesia.

"We will sign an agreement with the joint venture next week," he said. However, he did not name the companies.

The Information Access Center (IAC) was developed using a design produced by the Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), which donated 55 linked personal computers and one server worth Rp 5 billion, with broadband Internet access facilitated by Wasantara.net.

The center consists of an Internet lounge, seminar room, business center and workshops.

Sofyan said that this integrated model should serve as an example for other internet and telephone rental providers throughout Indonesia.

A WORLD FORUM ON INDONESIAN INFRASTRUCTURE 2006

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta: Indonesia is due to hold its twice-delayed 2nd infrastructure conference and exhibition in November in an effort to drum up much needed private-sector investment to bring the country's woefully inadequate infrastructure into the 21st century.

Titled Indonesia Infrastructure 2006, the conference will be held from Nov 1-3, and will include a two-day forum and workshop on Indonesia's infrastructure needs in which senior decision makers from the government, industry and international agencies will address a variety of strategic issues.

Participants from the technical, commercial, legal and financial sectors will attend the event.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono said in a press statement Tuesday that the government would announce new investment rules and policies during the conference.

"At the conference, presentations will be made by officials from the relevant ministries on the projects on offer and the new rules," he said.

Meanwhile, Suyono Dikun, the deputy for infrastructure to the coordinating minister, said that it was expected that a number of new regulations and laws would be put in place before the conference.

The new rules would replace regulations dating back to 1967, and would seek to improve legal standards, ease restrictive central and local government interference, and reduce the length of time required to set up a business to about 30 days compared to 150 days at present.

Dikun said that over the coming five years, Indonesia would need about Rp 600 trillion (about US$63 billion) in new investment in the infrastructure sector.

"We hope that between Rp 120 trillion and Rp 150 trillion of this will come from the private sector," he said.

He added that the coordinating ministry, in collaboration with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the National Development Planning Board (Bapenas), was drawing up a list of infrastructure projects that would be offered during the conference.

The government offered about 91 projects valued at $22 billion during an earlier conference, titled the Infrastructure Summit, in January last year. Disappointingly, only one of those projects has been completed, and only five others are currently underway.

Besides the forum and workshop, the three-day event will also feature an exhibition in which leading companies will get the opportunity to showcase their products and services.

Individual one-to-one meetings with the exhibitors will be arranged for interested parties.

Kadin deputy chairman Chris Kanter said that so far, 375 participants had registered to participate in the conference, while 80 local and international companies would take part in the exhibition.

Organized by:
INDONESIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Address:
KADIN EVENT SECRETARIAT
Menara Kadin 29th Floor
Jl. HR Rasuna Said X-5 Kav. 2-3
JAKARTA 12950 - INDONESIA
PHONE: 6221 5274454, 6221 3157749
FAX: 6221 5274634, 6221 3152979
Official Website: http://www.indonesiainfrastructure.com
email: info@indonesiainfrastructure.com