PUTRAJAYA’S announcement that the free additional 1GB internet data allocation now valid throughout the day has no “substantive impact” to the telecommunications sector, said AmInvestment Bank.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) recently announced that the 1GB free data plan, which was mooted under Penjana, the government’s economic recovery plan, would be extended to 24 hours as opposed to the initial 8am to 6pm slot.
“In our view, this is simply an extension of the free 1GB internet access” to what telco companies had already been offering to their subscribers since April 1 during the movement control order until June 9, 2020, AmInvest analyst Alex Goh said in a note today.
As usage of the free data quota is restricted to selected websites and applications, “we do not expect any substantive impact” to the telcos’ average revenue per user or operational costs, said Goh.
Major telcos such as Celcom, Digi, Maxis, TM and U Mobile have announced the extension of the validity to all active postpaid and prepaid customers.
This 1GB internet extension is still restricted to important educational and Covid-19-related apps and websites such as MySejahtera, MyTrace, health-related information and government websites, and free calls to the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre hotline.
To redeem the free data, users can activate the usage from the self-care apps. The free 1GB data cannot be utilised for gaming, music, video and social media applications such as PUBG Mobile, Spotify, YouTube and Telegram. For such applications, users will have to utilise their own existing data plan. – July 2, 2020
