How many of you have suffered “lost” conversations and abrupt end to important phone calls because your telco decides to drop you like a hot potato? How many of us have once or twice in the past once or twice this week complained about our local telcos’ calls dropping? More importantly, how many Malaysians have attempted porting from one local telco to another because of the bad service?
Well, you’ll be (sorta) relieved to hear that all three of the major local telcos – Maxis, DiGi, and Celcom, have recently been fined a whopping total of RM190,000 by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) for breaching their license conditions.
Which one among the three got slapped with the heftiest fine, you ask?
DiGi was fined not one, not two, but four separate compounds amounting up to RM100,000 whereas Celcom received a fine of RM60,000 for three separate compounds. Maxis was fined RM30,000 for two separate compounds. And before you ask, “Who was the judge of this anyway?”, the compounds were issued to the telcos based on test results conducted by MCMC in several locations in Malaysia.
Upon the announcement, Dato’ Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi (Chairman of MCMC) said, “The telcos were given ample time and reminders to resolve complaints received from their customers concerning the increased occurrence of dropped calls lately. As the regulator of the industry, we have no choice but to fine them for failing to meet accepted standards and levels of service”.
Kudos to MCMC for taking charge of things!
UPDATE:
The MCMC has slapped our local telcos once again with embarrassingly hefty fines. The stricter fines, imposed against six companies, collectively adds up to a total of almost RM1 million. Why, you ask? Due to the companies’ failure to ensure that prepaid account registrations were done right, basically.
Sounds like an honest mistake but there have been cases where individuals’ MyKad or IC numbers and names were wrongly used for registration. Thus, the telcos’ failure to ensure accurate user information in prepaid account registrations are held liable under Section 242 of Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which exists to avoid abuse of end user information.
The companies fined were:
- Celcom Axiata Bhd
- Merchantrade Sdn Bhd
- U Mobile Sdn Bhd
- Tune Talk Sdn Bhd
- Maxis Mobile Services Sdn Bhd
- Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd
With Celcom Axiata having had it the worst with eight fines totaling RM400,000. Ouch.
Sources: Malaysian Wireless, Digital News Asia.
