KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has said that telecommunication companies (telcos) could be penalised if they do not respond to customers’ complaints as per the mandatory standard of quality and service.
Chairman Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek said the penalty imposed for service providers will be a fine of an appropriate amount.
“As a service provider, you do not want to be penalised for poor services because that will impact your ability to manage your customers.
“Therefore, the penalty amount is not the big thing, but it is the fact that there is a penalty.
“With the enforcement (of penalties), service providers will certainly be on their toes to ensure that their service is always tip-top for customers,” he told a virtual media briefing on MCMC’s third quarterly report detailing the latest development and progress of the national digital infrastructure plan Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) today.
Fadhlullah also acknowledged that no technical service is without any problems.
“Just like the computers we use, we need to reboot it from time to time.
“Likewise, the (telco) networks do have (their) problems,” he said.
According to Fadhlullah, the commission will inform service providers when complaints come in and they will be given a certain period of time to fix the problem and get back to the customers.
“One of the things that the service providers have committed to is that you will no longer have a situation where the complaints are considered closed and resolved without the complainant signing off or acknowledging that the problem has been resolved by the service provider.
“That is one of the most positive things that has happened since we started the Jendela journey,” he added.
Fadhlullah said Celcom Axiata Bhd still leads in the number of customer complaints, with 12,056 complaints last month.
At the industry level, MCMC noted a spike in network complaints, largely due to work from home and home-based learning and teaching (PdPR) amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
On a month-on-month basis, he said the number of complaints received by Celcom last month surged to 12,056 from 3,780.
Maxis Bhd came in second with 8,926 complaints compared with 2,796 complaints recorded in May.
Digi.Com Bhd received 8,056 complaints in the same period.
“The movement control order (MCO) is an abnormal situation for the country and the number of complaints has gone up in the current challenging period.
“Otherwise, it was on a downward trend,” he said.
Fadhlullah expects the number of complaints to drop once the country moves from Phase 1 to Phase 2 and Phase 3, as per the National Recovery Plan. – Bernama, July 9, 2021
