Earlier today (19th November), a petition called for Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo to be replaced, accusing him of being biased towards Telekom Malaysia (TM) and not having enough understanding of Malaysia’s telecommunication industry.
Source: change.org
The petition, which currently has 21 out of 100 signatures, stated that TM was being unfairly targeted. An excerpt from it reads,
“(For) every single issue that has been raised, instead of doing a proper job, he pushes the blame to TM without explaining anything as a Telecommunication Minister should do. He should have known the reason why fiberisation of Malaysia is a difficult process but again he shifts the blame to TM. He has also been biased by not addressing any issue that citizens have raised regarding Maxis or Astro.”
This petition surfaced after TM recently announced on Sunday (18th November) that its services were disrupted since Saturday night (17th November) due to fibre cable cuts by third-party contractors in Sentul and Sabak Bernam.
According to The Star, TM stated that Streamyx, unifi Mobile, wholesale services in Central, Northern and Eastern Regions, including Sabah and Sarawak, were disrupted since 11pm on Saturday night. Restoration services were ongoing during the time of their announcement and services resumed earlier this morning (19th November).
In light of the disruption, TM faced widespread criticism from users as well as the government, who warned that regulatory action could be taken against them as they have caused inconveniences for customers due to their frequent technical breakdowns and unreasonable pricing.
#unifiAlerts
Sharing pictures from ground-zero of the cable cut incident. While the repair and replacement works are still underway,we have optimised the network by rerouting traffic&fully restored the services affected at 10am so that the internet experience is back to normal. pic.twitter.com/nwGepxbnMX— unifi (@unifi) November 19, 2018
The Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKM) has also called out TM, asking them to explain the high charges for its Streamyx line-based broadband service and the high number of customer complaints they have received. According to Free Malaysia Today, Gobind Singh Deo directed the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to seek clarification from TM. Over the weekend, the minister also tweeted,
“TM should be more concerned. They should provide an explanation regarding the Streamyx issue to its customers. What are their plans to resolve this? If Streamyx’s copper infrastructure is not capable of delivering high-speed broadband, please clearly say so and explain what the next steps are to solve this issue.”
TM seharusnya lebih prihatin. Berikanlah penjelasan berkenaan isu Streamyx kpd pelanggan mereka. Apakah cadangan utk selesaikan isu ini? Kalau infra copper Streamyx tidak mampu memberikan kelajuan tinggi, sila nyatakan dan sebut dgn jelas apakah langkah seterusnya? https://t.co/6Vc0Aw4uB1
— GobindSinghDeo (@GobindSinghDeo) November 17, 2018
He added in another tweet that TM should value their customers and respond to their complaints instead of keeping quiet.
Whatever the case, TM shld value their customers and respond. Being quiet isn't an option especially where there r many Streamyx users. Ramai yg mengadu tapi sehingga sekarang, tiada usaha dpd TM utk terangkan masalah sebenar kpd pelanggannya dan apakah tindakan yg akan diambil. https://t.co/nTdmKyh8fm
— GobindSinghDeo (@GobindSinghDeo) November 17, 2018
What are your thoughts on TM’s recent service disruption and the petition that has recently surfaced online? Let us know in the comments below.
Also read: Gobind Singh told TM to Explain Slow and Expensive Streamyx Service
