Communications minister, Gobind Singh Deo said his meeting with Telekom Malaysia last week was a “fruitful” one, but he is not authorised to disclose what was discussed in the meeting, according to The Edge Markets.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday, Gobind said the government’s stance remains that it will take all necessary steps to assist TM in addressing its challenges post the implementation of Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP). MSAP determines the wholesale network pricing for the industry, with the intent to make broadband pricing more affordable to the end consumer.
“I don’t think I have authority to disclose those matters that we discussed [with TM]. The government will take all steps that it can to assist TM to resolve difficulties that they have. We want all telcos to improve, and make sure that not just the infrastructure, but also the quality of broadband is world class, so that we can project ourselves as a country that is prepared to face challenges and demand in Industrial Revolution 4.0,” he said.
“To me this is something that we must do, we have to be firm, in making decisions, but at the end of the day, wherever the telcos require my help, my doors are always open, and we are prepared to sit with them, together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, so that we can find ways and means where we can assist them,” he added.
TM is going through what can be considered one of the most challenging and difficult chapters in the company’s long history. Recently, it had announced the appointment of Imri Mokhtar as its new acting group CEO — Imri will be the third person taking the help at TM after Dato Sri Shazalli Ramly who resigned in June and Datuk Bazlan Osman who resigned earlier this month.
There are rumours that TM could get its first ever female CEO with Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd Group CEO Datuk Rohana Rozhan being one of the top candidates for the top job at TM.
The biggest pain point for a large number of TM customers is the current price of Streamyx. A 1Mbps Streamyx plan costs RM110/month while a 100Mbps unifi plan costs RM129/month. The disparity has made Streamyx customers, calling for the minister to pressure TM to reduce the price of Streamyx in relation to the connectivity speed provided.
Beyond this, there are a number of other issues that TM and the ministry can work closely together on and it will be interesting to see what fruit the discussions between the ministry and TM will bear.
