The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) will study registering mobile communications service dealers to ensure the registration of prepaid mobile users are carried out effectively.
The recent success of registering 85% of prepaid mobile numbers, as directed by the Government last year, was commendable.
But there still errant dealers who do not comply with stipulated guidelines, said MCMC head of corporate communications Adelina Iskandar.
Mobile service dealers are currently regulated by their respective telcos, which leaves the MCMC at a disadvantage of closely monitoring their activities.
“The end objective of registering prepaid users’ numbers is for national security. It is obvious that dealers are undermining this objective by not ensuring that those who register are exactly who they say they are.
“Dealers essentially belong to their respective telcos, and it’s clear that they (telcos) are not breathing down on them. There are still reports of dealers not cross-checking a registrar’s information with his or her Mykad,” she said.
She added however, that this introduction of additional regulatory initiatives on dealers would require further scrutiny before implementation.
She reminded that the prepaid mobile registration exercise would continue with all prepaid mobile users.
New users are now required to register their details at the point of purchase.
Adelina said the MCMC was also continuing its random audits to ensure the information of users captured during the registration exercise last year was correct.
The unregistered 2.7mil prepaid users will also be audited to ensure the numbers are deactivated.
