Abolish contract period for people to exit poor internet service, Gov’t urged

PARTI Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) is urging the Communications and Multimedia Ministry to dismantle the minimum contract period for internet to allow people to opt for better internet services and preventing unethical profiteering by telecommunication corporations.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made working and learning from home the new norm, and this requires stable and affordable internet services.

However, Malaysians are suffering from poor internet services with existing telecommunication corporations and are unable to switch to better services, said PSM central committee member Sharan Raj.

“This problem of poor service did not happen overnight but has existed for nearly a decade. According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) the customer service index (CSI) for internet service providers has been declining since 2012,” he said in a statement today.

The survey highlighted main grouses towards the service providers, namely non-compensation when service is down and also poor quality of broadband connection, download/upload speed and network coverage.

“Nearly half of fixed broadband subscribers possess broadband speed below 50Mbps. The low-speed subscribers may only upgrade their service using the same telecommunication corporations with a higher premium.

“The low-speed subscribers are not allowed to switch to different telecommunication corporations during the minimum 24-month contract period for household broadband,” Sharan explained.

The minimum contract period allows telecommunication providers to impose ‘exit fees’ worth the outstanding contracting period, he added.

“The proper legal term is ‘exit fees’ and not ‘fines’ or ‘saman’ as some telecommunication corporations had propagated to the public. Fined can only be imposed by the Government and not by corporations onto the people.” – July 29, 2021

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