T

he ramifications of the saga implicating the former president director of PT Indosat Mega Media (IM2), Indar Atmanto, continues to raise questions about the legality of licensing practices and regulations in the telecommunications industry, an executive has said.

'€œDespite the government'€™s acknowledgement of the case'€™s flaws, the Supreme Court is still insistent that Indosat and IM2 are in the wrong. If we are still considered wrong despite all that, then what is right? The victim in the end would be the telecom industry,'€ Indosat CEO Alexander Rusli said over the weekend.

Alexander was commenting on the court'€™s ruling early this month that turned down an appeal by Indar, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013 for his role in the case. The judge also ordered IM2 to repay state losses of up to Rp 1.3 trillion.

The case revolves around suspicions that IM2 had been operating illegally and had caused losses to the state by failing to secure frequency licenses and pay an up front fee, as set out in a Communications and Information Ministry regulation that bans telecommunications firms from handing over frequency allocations to other companies.

Indosat and the regulators have repeatedly pointed out that the regulation could not be used as a basis for the prosecution since Indosat functions as a network provider while IM2 is a service provider.

IM2 is not required to secure additional licenses as Indosat, as its parent company, has already secured the required permits as a network provider. Indosat also argued that IM2 was just renting the allocated frequency, instead of taking it over.

According to Alexander, several internet service providers (ISP) might face similar trials as the IM2, given the nature of their operation licenses, which would potentially harm the industry further and could spark a decline in the industry'€™s investment climate.

Alexander emphasized the dependency of the industry on licensing, saying that without the ability to obtain operating licenses, '€œthere would essentially be no telecom industry'€.

Related to the court'€™s recent ruling this month, Indosat said it would study the court'€™s statement once it received a written copy.

'€œThat way, we would be able to assess the terms behind the rejection and we might build another appeal with new evidence,'€ Alexander added.

The company further welcomed efforts made by the industry and the government in order to settle the complicated legal matter.

At the beginning of the month, 16 telecommunications industry associations united to sign a petition condemning the Supreme Court'€™s rejection of Indar'€™s latest judicial review appeal, which was made in March.

'€œ[The rejection] could send the wrong message, that all cooperation between service providers and network providers is considered illegal, while really it is not,'€ the Telecommunications and Information Society (Mastel) chairman Kristiyono said previously on behalf of the associations.

Earlier in September, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo visited Qatar and met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and reportedly discussed the IM2 case because of concerns expressed by Indosat'€™s parent company, the Ooredoo Group, which is based in Qatar.

Indosat itself is planning to launch its 4G/LTE services on the 1,800 MHz spectrum at the end of November, after 4G refarming concludes in Jakarta.
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