• Talk less than two minutes or pay more
  • Chun K Poh
    UK
  • 1014246107
  • The recent planned increase in Telekom's fixed-line phone charges is extremely upsetting, enraging and a disservice to the Malaysian consumers. The increase, coupled with the lack of competition in the provision of landline service in Malaysia, draw our attention to the atrocious state that our supposedly free telecommunications market is in.

    Furthermore, to have the government doing the briefing to the press (instead of Telekom Malaysia) seems to be a not-so subtle pointer to the extent of Telekom's monopoly in the telecommunications business in our country.

    In the United Kingdom, the industry watchdog Oftel (Office of Telecommunications) is a regulator set up by the Telecommunications Act 1984 to ensure that customers receive the best quality, choice and value for money for all their telephone services. Its primary objective is to guarantee the existence of competition. This in turn drives down prices while forcing telecommunications companies to deliver better, higher quality services.

    Presently in Britain, companies like Telewest, NTL and BT strive for market share while the customers reap the benefits of a competitive atmosphere. Throw in four independent mobile phone operators who all provide free minutes, and you have a buyers' market. What do we have in Malaysia?

    Let us look closely at Telekom's current and new tariffs based on a report in The Star (Feb 20). Under the old rates, local calls cost nine sen per minute for the first three, and three sen every minute thereafter. The new rates will be eight sen per minute for the first two, and four sen every minute thereafter.

    Therefore, under the new tariffs, a 30-minute call to your loved ones will cost you 30 sen more than it otherwise would. This adds up over the month, so a daily 30-minute phone call to your family or friends translates to an extra RM9 to your burden. Also the longer you make a call, the more expensive it will be.

    Moreover, the new national rates for distances more than 150km during "full rate" and "reduced rate" hours should work out to be 86 sen and 43 sen respectively, instead of 90 sen and 45 sen as published. These figures are based on the rates of seven and 14 seconds per unit respectively, with one unit charged at 10 sen each. Is "rounding up" to the nearest 5 sen a policy in Telekom Malaysia?

    And the rebate, which takes off RM3 from your phone bill, has been scrapped under the new tariffs.

    We all know that a very large proportion of our phone calls, for the majority of us, are made within 50km of your home. It is quite an insult to your intelligence to say that the new rise in prices is "... a gain for the [telecommunications] industry and consumers, a slight increase for some but a major reduction for most ....", so stop offending us, minister!

    According to the same news article, it was reported that the price revision is necessary to "... help bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas... ". How is this even remotely possible?

    It is intriguing to find that while fixed line rates in developed countries have been falling steadily, the reverse is taking place in Malaysia.

    I would like to suggest that Telekom Malaysia adopt a new slogan in line with its new "re-pricing" exercise. "Talk for under two minutes, or stand to pay more!" is an extremely appropriate one.