Qtel Group Donates USD 200,000 to Aid Indonesian Flood Victims

Indosat Leads Efforts to Keep People Connected Following Natural Disasters

Mobilk - Qtel Group today announced a donation of USD 200,000 to help flood victims in Indonesia, as part of the relief efforts by Qtel Group and its Indonesian operator Indosat.

After several days of heavy flooding in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta earlier last week, more than 20,000 people were evacuated and the Jakarta Government declared a state of emergency until 27 January 2013. 

Qtel Group’s donation to people in Jakarta was presented at the direction of Qtel Group Chairman H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani. 

The donation goes to a number of agencies providing relief efforts, including the Jakarta Government, Red Cross Indonesia, PKPU, and the Dompet Dhuafa Foundation. This will help improve the lives of hundreds of flood victims, who are in dire need of food, water, clothing, medicine and additional daily needs. 

Today, Qtel Group representative Nicholas Swierzy and Indosat President Director and CEO Alexander Rusli presented the donation to flood victims in the Kapuk Muara neighbourhood in North Jakarta. In the sprawling Jakarta metropolis, Kapuk Muara is one of the worst-affected areas, as nearly 700 people have been staying in a shelter for the past week.

Caused by unusually strong monsoon rains, the flood waters have inundated the city’s central business district, closed schools and offices, and affected about 95,000 people in different areas of the city.

During the flooding, Indosat was the country’s first mobile operator to offer customers free local minutes, SMS and Internet access to help family members stay in touch. For customers with a minimum or zero balance, Indosat gave them Rp 5000 to use for any combination of 10 minutes of voice calls, 20 SMS or 1 MB of data.

BlackBerry customers also received one free day of service, thanks to an Indosat partnership with RIM.  This was especially helpful for customers on daily packs who had exhausted their credit and could not recharge due to lack of access to shops.

Indosat also offered free, unlimited calls to Jakarta’s emergency, evacuation and flood response call centres to all customers – even those without credit. The company has also worked around-the-clock to ensure its mobile network has remained operational, despite power outages and affected offices. 

Staff and their families stuck in their homes and businesses can call a special Indosat hotline to help them reach safety. In addition, Indosat has delivered water, food and clothing to call centre staff and employees who have remained in their offices during the flooding.

Qtel Group Chairman H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani said: “During this challenging time for Indonesians, I hope that our donation will help improve the lives of people suffering from the floods, and demonstrate the strong bond of friendship that exists between our countries. Indosat is working very hard to maintain services and ensure that people have the security and support of a reliable mobile connection. Whenever there are difficulties, our customers know they can rely on Qtel Group companies.” 

January is typically the wettest month in Jakarta, which has a population of around 10 million people, and the city has already experienced more rainfall in one week than it usually gets in the entire month of January.

Qtel Group and Indonesia have a longstanding relationship, particularly when it comes to corporate social responsibility initiatives. Qtel Groups holds a 65 percent stake in Indosat, which is the country’s second-largest mobile operator with more than 50 million customers on its nationwide network.

In 2011, Qtel Group aided Indonesian victims of the volcanic eruption of Mount Merapi, which forced the evacuation of 350,000 people. Afterwards, Qtel Group provided QR 3million to fund the complete construction of a residential complex with 56 houses, a water well and a mosque in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Qtel Group also donated 16 tonnes of food and aid packages to 500 families who had been evacuated due to the volcanic eruption and were forced into temporary accommodation.