The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) alongside the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC) have insisted that exclusive arrangements for telecommunications infrastructures on high-rise buildings are interfering with the freedom of choice among consumers.
Not only that, both agencies believe that such arrangements could lead to a spike in pricing as well as poor service quality. Hence, MCMC and MyCC are now asking all service providers, property developers, and building management companies to rectify any exclusive arrangement for telecommunications infrastructures that they may have signed.
Inside the Guidelines for Communications Infrastructure Planning (GPP-I) that MCMC published earlier this year, the regulator stated that the access to infrastructure facilities must be provided fairly and openly by property developers, without any discriminations. Based on our understanding, the GPP-I seems to generally cover all types of properties even though the statement today touched on high-rise buildings.
However, MCMC and MyCC didn’t provide any names in their joint statement today even though after acknowledging the fact that they have received complaints from the public regarding the issue.
So, we have no idea which providers, developers, and building management companies that were involved in these so-called exclusive arrangements at the moment. Nevertheless, it seems that things may have escalated to the level where the authorities feel that they need to step in and act on it.
