Bilateral talks yield progress to untie trade restrictions

Andi Haswidi ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/02/2009 1:34 PM  |  Headlines

In times of crisis, it is not uncommon for governments to leave their ivory towers and try to help companies in distress.

The Canadian government, via its embassy here, has been trying to resolve blocked certification procedures in respect of the leading Canadian export item to Indonesia, the BlackBerry smartphone.

This trade barrier has been in place since last month because the Blackberry producer, Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), has yet to provide after-sales service in the country as required by the regulations.

The directorate general of communication and information said it aimed to protect consumers and to give equal treatment to all mobile phone producers.

Three meetings have been held so far between the directorate general and RIM executives, accompanied by officials from the embassy. The third meeting was on Wednesday.

The spokesperson for the directorate general, Gatot S. Dewabroto, said the last meeting yielded positive progress toward the mutual resolution of the problem.

"There was a positive atmosphere at the meeting. I think it is matter of time. I am optimistic RIM will comply with our request."

In earlier meetings RIM said it was only willing to conduct a feasibility study on opening an office since market penetration was still at an early stage with more than 300,000 mobile phones distributed directly or indirectly through local telecommunications operators.

RIM was also concerned about the distribution of BlackBerrys via the black market, which it presumed supplied 80 percent of demand.

Gatot said the need for after-sales service here is crystal clear as the total number of users may exceed one million by the end of the year. As of the end of the first quarter, BlackBerry had a total subscriber base of 28.15 million worldwide.

Licenses to import BlackBerrys, he said, were given by the government not only to RIM and to telecommunication operators, but also to local businesses, as with other mobile phone brands.

"We have an obligation to protect the market from monopoly."

Gatot denied any accusation that the move against RIM was influenced by competitors in the smartphone market, saying the decision was also made to benefit the Canadian company.

"There are several firms proposing to provide after-sales service for BlackBerry customers, but we cannot allow them to do that. Their standards are questionable."

On the distribution of illegal products, the government via the Trade Ministry would soon carry out raids at main cellular phone retail centers in the country while constantly monitoring entry gates at ports.

In March police foiled an illegal shipment of 10 containers of BlackBerrys, followed by thwarting another smuggling of the smartphones worth Rp 3.6 billion (US$353,000) from Hong Kong and Singapore through the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

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