Just under a week after the RM190,000 fine imposed on three local telcos for breaching their licence conditions, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has cracked down on our local telcos again. This time, it has imposed significantly stricter fines against six companies which came to almost RM1 million in total due to the companies’ failure to ensure that prepaid account registrations were conducted with accurate user information.

The companies fined were Celcom Axiata Bhd, Merchantrade Sdn Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Tune Talk Sdn Bhd, Maxis Mobile Services Sdn Bhd and Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd. Of these, Celcom Axiata were the hardest hit, with eight fines totalling RM400,000, while Merchantrade were sanctioned with seven fines totalling RM240,000, Maxis Services hit with three fines amounting to RM150,000, U Mobile issued four fines that totalled RM100,000, and finally Maxis Broadband and Tune Talk issued with RM10,000 fines.

Their failure to ensure accurate user information in prepaid account registrations are held liable under Section 242 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which exists to avoid abuse of end user information. However, MCMC chairman Dato’ Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi stated that the commission received “numerous complaints and info about cases where individuals’ MyKad or IC numbers and names have been used when in fact they never did apply for the service from the said telcos.”

“We view the failure to ensure proper registration of accurate user information as a serious offence,” he added.

(Source: Digital News Asia)