Indonesia's Telkomsel off mark first in offering 3G service

Indonesia's largest cellular phone operator PT Telkomsel has officially begun offering first high-speed wireless service for mobile phones, following a successful trial operation in August, local press reported Friday.

The third-generation, or 3G, service allows users to download video clips and surf the Internet on their mobile phones at high speed. Currently, the service is only available in Jakarta, The Jakarta Post reported.

Bambang Riadhy Oemar, Telkomsel's director for planning and development, said 3G service was now available in several main areas of the capital.

"We have built 300 base transceiver stations in Jakarta to provide 3G service," he said after the launch of the service Thursday.

He said Telkomsel would soon expand coverage to other cities, including Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java and Medan in North Sumatra.

Bambang said Telkomsel would increase the number of base transceiver stations to 600 by the end of this year to enable it to provide high-speed wireless service in these cities.

Telkomsel, he said, will invest about 3 trillion rupiah (about 326 million U.S. dollars) to increase the number of base transceiver stations to 3,000 within three years as it expands its 3G coverage.

As many as 60,000 customers have registered for the service since Telkomsel launched the trial operation last month, he said.

"We are seeing stronger demand."

Telkomsel is one of five companies that won licenses to operate third-generation mobile telecommunications services in Indonesia.

In addition to Telkomsel, the government also awarded 3G service operating rights to PT Indosat, PT Excelcomindo Pratama, PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler and PT Hutchison CP Telecommunications.

Source: Xinhua