JAKARTA, Indonesia—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology will not bring killer data applications, at least during this year in Indonesia, according to industry executives.
Rudiantara, head of the country’s cellular association, said Indonesia’s cellular subscribers experienced many new short message service (SMS)-based applications last year, resulting in a surge in SMS revenue from US$8 million in 2000 to US$800 million in 2001.
GPRS services in Indonesia are facing difficulty because mobile users find they are costly and have limited features. Hasnul Suhaemi, chief executive officer (CEO) of Indosat Multimedia Mobile (IM3), the first GPRS operator in the country, said IM3’s GPRS users count 6,000 of its total 190,000 subscribers. This figure underlies IM3’s decision to defer the launch of GPRS price plans while waiting for other operators’ plans to be released.
In addition, Excelcomindo and market leader Telkomsel announced they will launch GPRS services in the fourth quarter. The delay from a previously planned second-quarter launch is due to lack of content. Rudiantara, also director of Excelcom’s corporate strategy and governance, said users are accustomed to text messaging services like SMS. He added that voice will still be the killer application in cellular services.
Both Excelcom and Telkomsel have GPRS networks that are ready for service.
