Syahrial Ali's Blog

Today, Telkomsel the biggest GSM and 3G operator in Indonesia has been appointed by Ministry of Information and communication as the winner of USO (Universal Service Obligation) for 2 packets, packet no 2 and packet no 7. The packet-2 value is around $30m, while the packet-7 is only around $20m, so the total value for both packets is around $50m.

As a winner, Telkomsel shall provide telecommunication and information access services for villages in both regions. The packet-2 consists of Jambi ( 751 villages ), Riau mainland (701 villages), Riau islands ( 90 villages), Bangka Belitung Islands (141 villages), Bengkulu (969 villages), South Sumatera (1752 villages), Lampung (793 villages). Meanwhile, the packet-7 consists of Banten (530 villages), Jawa Barat (1038 villages), Central Java (1551 villages), DIY (19 villages), East Java(1436 villages).

Winning this tender will be beneficial for Telkomsel as it supports Telkomsel internal program to cover all villages in Indonesia. Congratulation to Telkomsel.

Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information has appointed PT Bakrie Telecom as the winner for the selection of long distance service provider using fixed network on December 16, 2008. Previously Bakrietel competed with Mobile-8 for this license. However, Mobile-8 was not really serious when it did not hand in the bid bond. So, Bakrietel just compete with them selves for administration completeness and they pass.

As the winner, Bakrietel should hand in the performance bond on January 9th, 2009 at the latest. If they fail to do that, then their bid bond will be cashed in by the selection committee. This case will not eliminate Bakrietel obligation to hand in the performance bond. The principal license will be released on January 23rd, 2009.

Last year, Bakrietel also won the license of international call service provider. It completes the previous nationwide license of fixed wireless access with limited mobility. Congratulation for Bakrietel. They already have several tools for success.

The rumor that Sinar Mas wants to buy Bakrietel share  was heard for a long time. However, both parties have been denied it frequently. Kontan Daily reported today that Sinar Mas has bought Bakrietel for 6.2% of share or equal to 1.76 billion of share. According to BEI data, Sinar Mas has done it last month.

If calculated according to the Bakrietel price during last November, then Sinar Mas has been invested around IDR 100 billion. After entering Bakrietel, then share composition of Bakrietel are Bakrie & Brother: 22.43%; Credit Suisse Singapore Branch: 8.08%; Sinar Mas: 6.2%; and the rest owned by public.

For your information, Bakrietel is a company which has a CDMA lisence under the product name: ESIA. Last year Bakrietel just won International Call Service Provider, and Bakrietel is about to win National Long Distance Call Service Provider.

Minister of Information and Communication Muhammad Nuh informed that Indonesia will launch new communication satellite (Indostar II) at around March 2009 in Baikonour, Kazakhstan. Indostar II is a joint venture between Prostar and PT MCI (Media Citra Indostar). This satellite will replace current satellite Indostar-I which its operational time will end soon. Minister in this opportunity also said that government always support any company who will provide the goodness for Indonesia.

PT MCI is really serious with plan. They invited the Minister and director general of satellite to see the development of this satellite. Previous MCI Satellite, Indostar I is the only broadcasting satellite in Indonesia S-band orbit. It serves 56 television channel and 19 network radio with digital technology and MPEG-2 broadcasting. So it serves many Indonesia people.

The new satellite, named Indostar II will have double capacity compare to the previous one. It can serve 120 MPEG-2 technology and 140 MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 technology. It will serve 2 pay TV, local televisions, network television and network radio broadcasting. With countrywide coverage, PT MCI will unify Indonesia through broadcasting.

Every year BRTI (Indonesian Telecommunication Regulatory Body) gives appreciation to the operators and other parties who have important roles in the development of telecommunication in Indonesia. On this year event which conducted in Borobudur Hotel Jakarta last night,  Bakrie Telecom and Indosat succeeded in snatching the Best Achievement Award for fixed and cellular operators respectively.

Below are the complete result:

§ Best Achievement Award for fixed operator: Bakrie Telecom, runner up: Telkom.

§ Best Achievement Award for Cellular Operator: Indosat, runner up: XL.

§ Best Printed Media : Bisnis Indonesia daily

§ Best Radio and Television: Metro TV

§ Best Online Media: detik.com

§ Lifetime Achievement: Arnold P. Djiwatampu

§ Special Rewrd: ex Director General of DG Postel Djamhari Sirat and ex BRTI members: Suryadi Azis and Soetjipto.

In deciding the winner, BRTI is helped by Frontier Research group.  The methodology for best achievement is by combining two main factors, namely the customer perspectives and the operational performances. The customer perspectives consist of customer satisfactory index and brand popularity. This part weights 55% of total mark.  While the operational performance weights only 45% which consist of network performance and service performance.

Six out of ten Indonesian Telecommunication Operators pass the qualification for providing telecommunication facilities to the villages (universal service obligation/USO). This process actually is a re-tender as the previous tender (won by PT Aces) was cancelled by DG Postel.

The USO project will provide the communication facilities for 31.824 villages in 32 provinces from all over Indonesia. This project is divided into 7 packets and each participant can win all the packets. Currently, not all packets are ready to be tendered, because according to Government rules, the number of participants who pass the qualification should be at least 5 .
Below are the result: (more…)