Cell phone

The hardest shot to get in Bandung, is a character shot without a cell phone in the frame.

Cell phones are very important to Indonesians. I do not know what the percentage of ownership is, but I can tell you that it is high. If the cost of a new cell phone represented a months wages to UK residents, I doubt that the cell phone would be as popular.

New cell phones start at around Rp800,000 (US$80.00 or £50.00). For those that cannot afford a new phone, there is a massive second hand market in cell phones. BEP (Bandung Electronic Plaza) is a huge shopping mall. The entire lower floor of the mall is dedicated to hand phones. A hundred stores or more, all next to each other, all selling the same commodity. Seems a strange business plan, but it works for both the consumer and the retailer. You can shop around for the best deal, without having to travel all over the city. If you open your shop away from BEP, you will not do good business because everyone knows that if you want a good deal on a phone, you go to BEP.

This business plan is repeated throughout the city, with specific streets or areas for specific products. BEP is not the only hand phone mall, there are a few of others. If you want clothing deals, you go to jalan Cehampelas, popularly known as jeans street. Electric appliances like washing machines etc, have their own area, for bicycles, you go to jalan Ahmad Yani. If you make your own clothes, there are a couple of areas for your materials. If you are doing some engineering or DIY repairs, you go to jalan Suniaraja. I don't know all the street (jalan) names, but you get the idea.

Cell phones cost money to run. There are no contracts, you buy a phone card for the number and purchase top ups. You will unlikely need to walk more than a hundred yards to find a shop to sell you a top up, in fact, I topped up this morning for Rp10,000 (US$1.00 or 60p) from the shop next to my house. The minimum top up is Rp6,000 (US$0.60 or 40p) and you can even get a new number for as little as Rp5,000 (US$0.50 or 35p). All currency conversions very approximate, just to give you ball park numbers.

A top up of 60p might not sound like much, but does represent a chunk of a days wages, so you will rarely see people chatting away on their hand phones, but rather tapping away, using the system of SMS communications.

Just like any other country, a cell phone is a statement, a status symbol. Just a few years ago, the main status symbol was gold. People would show off their wealth in necklaces and bracelets. If you could not pay the electric, you would cash in some gold to solve the problem and buy more gold when you were flush. I'm sure the gold thing still flourishes, but now the younger generation trade in hand phones, upgrading when they have spare cash and trading down or out to fill a short fall.

This a very interesting and complex society. I love it here.

Dave