Telecommunications companies should give their consumers a discount if they do not improve their services, Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) head Nadzim Johan said.

"We want to pay for proper signals at proper rates," Nadzim told a press conference today.

PPIM met with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) yesterday to discuss the unsatisfactory services and high prices of telecommunications services in Malaysia, compared with other countries.

Nadzim ( centre in photo ) said MCMC has agreed to work with the consumer organisation to come up with a solution with the telecommunications companies.

He also criticised the poor services faced by mobile phone users in Malaysia, citing examples such as bad signals, dropped calls and  confusing phone contracts.

Nadzim also decried telco practices like automatic voicemail subscription that many consumers blindly pay for without using.

Telco companies should not be taking advantage of the consumers by charging such high prices for poor services.

“Telco services price rates have not gone down in years but the quality of the services has,” Nadzim said.

'GST should replace SST'

When asked about the Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed on prepaid cards, he said it should replace the Sales and Services Tax (SST) and not increase the prices of the cards.

“They (the telco companies) are too arrogant,” Nadzim said, “They even want to argue about 6 sen to the point that the ministers have to intervene.”

Consumers have been complaining about the price increase to prepaid cards since the implementation of the GST.

This is after the government initially said the GST would not increase the prices of prepaid cards.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek has previously defended the price increase, claiming the system is too complicated for telco companies to revert to pre-GST prices.

He has since changed his stance after researching consumers’ views on the issue.

He said he will be working with the telco companies to change their prices to pre-GST prices.

But for now, the increased prepaid cards prices will remain.