Telkomsel Dials Up Drive for Cellphone Money-Transfer Service

Editors Note: I wish before Telkomsel launches any new services they would make sure that their current services are working well. My friends and I who have Telkomsel Kartu Halu sim cards have been experiencing terrible service for over 6 mths. now.
We are sure that it is because of over subscribing to the users and not keeping the size & quality of equipment at par for the amount of new users they have .

Complaints fall on ignorant ears with the attitude of a a monopoly that doesn't care about their service.

Wake up Telkomsel with blogs and tweets the word gets around and it won't be long before you have competition that hurts.
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Your Truly, One angry, fed up customer.

Shirley Wibisono | November 18, 2010


Jakarta. Telkomsel, the country’s largest mobile service provider, has officially launched a new service that allows customers to transfer money using their cellphones.

Customers using T-Cash Kirim Uang, or Telkomsel Cash Transfer, send text messages to transfer funds, which recipients can claim at customer service centers and thousands of Indomaret branches in Java, Bali and Lampung.

Ricardo Indra, Telkomsel’s corporate communications manager, said the service, which became fully functional last week, was the first of its kind in the country.

“Our target market is people who do not have bank accounts, especially in rural areas,” he said on Thursday.

Subscribers need to register for prepaid e-wallet deposits, which function like bank accounts. Funds from the account can be sent to another person, who will receive a transaction number on his or her cellphone.

The recipient must show this transaction number to an authorized merchant like Indomaret to claim the money.

The transaction fee for receiving cash is Rp 1,000 (11 cents) and Rp 5,000 for sending cash. Fund transfers can reach as high as Rp 1 million, with a monthly limit of Rp 20 million per user.

Telkomsel will share an unspecified percentage of revenue with authorized merchants.

Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank, granted a license for the T-Cash service in February after trials were carried out in May.

Bambang Supriogo, vice president of the T-Cash Management, said in a press release that Indomaret was the only outfit authorized for payouts but more partners would be added next year.

“By the end of 2011, we’re expecting revenue to grow by eight to ten times,” he said, adding that T-Cash was a cheaper and faster alternative to remittance services offered by couriers.

After its soft launch in November 2007, Telkomsel hoped to have five million T-Cash subscribers within two years.

However, only three million users have so far registered — about 3 percent of total Telkomsel subscribers.

However, Supriogo said T-Cash and similar services like top-up vouchers and bill payment through electronic transfers had already seen success.

For these, the company has partnered with more than 260 retailers and corporations across Indonesia, with more than 7,000 sales points from Aceh to Papua.