The government wants the Multimedia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to keep a close watch on the popular SMS friendship services provided by many telecommunication companies.

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Lim Keng Yaik said that MCMC should take severe action, including the suspension of licences, on these private telcos if they are found to have abused their services.

"They (MCMC) are the regulators, they are the people who give the licence to the telcos who should follow our guidelines in order to give good services and not the bad services," he told malaysiakini last night at the Gerakan Deeparaya open house.

Lim was responding to complaints by parents and consumers that the SMS friendship services are open to abuse and had hidden costs.

The main grouse is that user of these SMS friendship services - mainly teenagers - are encouraged to forge friendship with unknown persons.

Recent media reports have highlighted many cases of young girls making friends with strangers using the friendship service provided by private companies and getting into trouble later.

These teenagers are also usually not aware when these telcos send messages to them and then deducting the charges from their phone credit. Each SMS is normally charged RM0.50.

Lim said that these irresponsible telcos aim to make quick money and earn high profit from the industry.

No complaints lodged

When contacted, MCMC spokesperson Adelina Iskandar said the commission welcomed complaints of all nature from consumers in relation to telecommunication services.

She said that every complaint will be investigated and action will be taken against the telcos under the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.

Speaking specifically about the abuse of SMS services, Adelina said the commission can impose a minimum penalty of a fine to the offending telcos if they were found guilty of abusing their services.

However despite many grouses over the SMS friendship services, no complaints have yet to be lodged with MCMC.

This could largely be due to the ignorance of the consumers who are unaware of the role of MCMC.

Consumer associations meanwhile have asked MCMC of taking a more pro-active role in weeding out these culprit telcos.

An earlier malaysiakini report quoted the National Consumer Complaints Centre as asking the commission to set up an enforcement body to monitor telcos effectively.

"Merely regulating codes ain't enough, there must also be enforcement power against those who flout the laws," said NCCC director Darshan Singh.

A guideline in place

To this, MCMC's Adelina said that private telcos were regulated under a guideline imposed by the commission.

The guideline is in place to protect consumers from being cheated by SMS friendship services and other related SMS services, she added.

She said that the guideline - Provision of Subscription Services For Mobile Content and Services - was in place to provide guidance to the private telcos to formulate their SMS services.

She added that under the guideline, telcos are told as to what constitutes good practices in the provision of mobile content services. Telcos are also advised on how to protect customers' interests by providing sufficient information.

"The means of providing sufficient information will enable the consumers to make an informed decision on the purchase or subscription of mobile content services." she said.