of text-messages, which account for about 30 percent of subscribers' monthly bills."Our findings show their tariffs are three times, four times" the recommended price of each short-message service, or SMS, of 75 rupiah, or less than 1 U.S. cent, the agency's Chairman Mohammad Iqbal said in a telephone interview in Jakarta today, without naming any carrier. "High tariffs are an indication of a cartel."
The phone operators may face monetary penalties and orders to cut prices if found guilty. The agency last month ruled that Temasek Holdings Pte breached antitrust laws by using indirect stakes in the country's two biggest mobile-phone operators to fix prices in a market where the two carriers jointly account for 75 percent of the users.
The regulator started the investigation into SMS prices yesterday, and will reach a conclusion by mid-March, or within 60 working days, Iqbal said. When the probe ends, the agency will form a panel of judges to hear rebuttals and issue a ruling, he said.
The price for text messages in Indonesia ranges from the 50 rupiah charged by Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. to 350 rupiah by PT Indosat. PT Telekomunikasi Selular, or Telkomsel, and Indosat are the two biggest operators in a market with 10 carriers and about 80 million users.
"We do not participate in cartels," Indosat spokeswoman Adita Irawati said. "We are confident our SMS tariffs are competitive and were set in compliance to Indonesian regulations."
Indosat will cooperate in the investigation and is willing to provide any necessary information, she said.
Azis Fuedi, Telkomsel's spokesman, didn't immediately return a call made to his mobile phones.
In last month's ruling, the regulator asked Temasek, Singapore's state-owned investment company, to sell its indirect stake in either Telkomsel or Indosat. Temasek said it will appeal.
Temasek owns 54 percent of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., which holds 35 percent of Telkomsel. Its other unit, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, controls 75 percent of Asia Mobile Holdings Pte, which has a 40 percent stake in Indosat.
Temasek, Singapore Telecom and Telkomsel were each ordered to pay 25 billion rupiah ($2.7 million) in fines, the commission said. Telkomsel was also told to cut mobile-phone tariffs by 15 percent.
Indonesia has the second-largest text-message traffic in Asia after the Philippines, according to Armand Hermawan, head of investor relations at Indosat. Indonesian subscribers typically pay 30 percent of their monthly bills for text-message service, Hermawan said.
