Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) made the following statement last Saturday that it will address issues faced by Telekom Malaysia’s Streamyx customers as well as the dissatisfaction of existing customers who are unable to benefit from the price reduction offered by the new packages.
MCMC full announcement below.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has held talks with the telecommunication companies (telcos) towards finding a solution to address the grouses that have been voiced since the new fixed broadband packages were announced a few days ago. This includes issues such as the Streamyx service, as well as the dissatisfaction of existing customers who are unable to benefit from the price reduction offered by the new packages.
Arising from the said discussion, all the telcos have reaffirmed their commitment towards the government’s effort to offer high speed broadband services at reasonable prices. For example, existing customers automatically enjoy the new packages offered by TIME. In turn, Maxis and TM plan to upgrade their ADSL service to fibre optics in stages, whilst Celcom will widen its coverage for fixed broadband service in 2019 through collaboration with other telcos and using alternative technologies.
All the telcos expressed their willingness to allow existing customers who wish to enjoy a price reduction to switch to a cheaper new package. This means, a customer has the option of enjoying either a lower price, a higher speed at the same price or both.
At the same time, MCMC will continue to monitor the steps taken by the telcos to ensure that all commitments relating to speed are fulfilled according to the terms and conditions of the subscribed packages.
Download Press Release [here][/box]
Following this announcement, Telekom Malaysia released a media statement today saying that it will work with the Malaysian Government to address issues faced by its own Streamyx customers.
Over the past decade, there has been many dissatisfaction raised by Streamyx users, however, it is for the first time, Telekom Malaysia has publicly admitted that it has not delivered a better broadband service to these customers. To date, TM has 1.09 million Streamyx customers as of 2Q18.
At the moment, Streamyx broadband services are priced as below:
- 1Mbps: RM110/month
- 2Mbps: RM130/month
- 4Mbps: RM140/month
- 8Mbps: RM160/month
In a media statement, TM said that it has successfully upgraded nearly 50% of over 340,000 Streamyx customers residing in unifi coverage areas to unifi; at the same price of their current plan. There are still about 170k customers who are eligible for this upgrade.
“For Streamyx customers who are currently residing in non-unifi areas, TM is committed to continuously invest in the best fit for purpose technologies to bring high speed broadband to them. Meanwhile, where technology permits, TM is doubling the Streamyx speed at the same price of their current broadband plan. Close to 180,000 of those in non-unifi areas can look forward to receiving this free speed upgrade. TM aims to complete this speed upgrade exercise by December 2018.”
The remaining 500,000 Streamyx customers will not be receiving any speed upgrade or price reduction anytime soon. TM said it is calling for the discussions with the Government to quickly reach a mutually beneficial outcome for its own customers. No further updates were provided for these affected Streamyx customers.
Even with the speed upgrade, Streamyx users will continue to pay more per megabit compared to Unifi customers. For example, a 4Mbps Streamyx user may be upgraded to 8Mbps and continues to pay RM140/month however the Unifi plans cost even cheaper at 30Mbps at RM79/month and 100Mbps at RM129/month.
TM has yet to make any statement regarding price reduction for Streamyx users.
