My wife is a telephone subscriber of Telekom's fixed line like most, if not all, of the telephone users. Recently, the government allowed other telecommunication companies like Maxis to enlist subscribers to use Telekom's service by dialing 182 before the outstation or overseas telephone numbers, thereby enjoying a certain discount which was not available from Telekom.

As a consumer, my objective is naturally to get the best discount available. For the first few months, our use of 182 was minimal and there was no problem.

Later, we made quite a few overseas calls. We received the increased bill from Maxis together with the promised discount which works out to approximately 18 percent. A couple of days after that, I got a call from Telekom, asking why I made use of Maxis, which did not provide a fixed line, benefitting at their expense. I told him that Telekom never offered any discount, so naturally I used the company that offered it.

What upsets me most is that I am caught in this tussle between Telekom and Maxis over this shared facility.

Did the relevant ministry foresee this problem before approving this arrangement?

The caller from Telekom said he will take note of my refusal to accept their offer (not specified) and hinted that the management will do something about it. Sure enough, two days later, when we dialed 182 followed by the outstation number, a recorded message says, "We cannot connect your call as your line is temporarily suspended." I find this most disgusting as Telekom has abused its power by arbitrarily preventing me from exercising my choice of service.

I am highlighting this because I believe many others face the same problem. I hope the ministry and Telekom will explain the situation so that consumers would know what to do.