Telkomsel begins rolling out 3G service
September 17th, 2006 - Posted in Other, WirelessTelkomsel, an associate company of Singapore Telecommunications, began offering high-speed wireless service for mobile phones on Thursday after a successful trial in August, the Jakarta Post reported.
“We have built 300 base transceiver stations in Jakarta to provide 3G service,” Telkomsel director for planning and development, Bambang Riadhy Oemar, was quoted as saying.
The service, which promises access to high-speed Internet surfing, videos and music, is currently limited, however, to just over a dozen discrete areas in the capital Jakarta, the report said.
Oemar said that the company planned to invest about 3.0 trillion rupiah (326 million dollars) to increase the number of stations to 3,000 within three years as it expands its coverage across the archipelago nation.
Around 60,000 customers had registered for the service so far, six times the number Telkomsel anticipated, Oemar said in the report.
Four other companies have been awarded 3G operating licenses — Indosat, Excelcomindo, Natrindo Telepon Selular and Hutchison CP Telecommunications, the report said.
Excelcomindo plans to begin offering services by the end of the year, while the other three are still preparing their trial operations.