by HARIZAH KAMEL / pic by BERNAMA

THE Communications and Multimedia Consumer Forum of Malaysia (CFM) has warned telecommunications companies (telcos) against persistent disruption of their services in the country.

CFM deputy chairman Mohamad Yusrizal Yusoff (picture) said the recent disruption by network provider Celcom Axiata Bhd is one of several issues reported by consumers on social media.

“Issues such as not being able to complete online payments, unable to contact family members, affect the experience of riders of e-hailing services and their source of income.

“It has affected consumers’ daily affairs as many people are reliant on the telecommunication services in this new normal,” he said in a statement yesterday.

CFM said it encourages consumers to lodge complaints to their respective telcos by providing detailed information about the problems they are facing.

Consumers can proceed to lodge a report to CFM via the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) integrated complaint portal at https://aduan.skmm.gov.my/ if the issue is still not resolved.

Recently, Celcom faced overwhelming public retaliation due to its network disruption which began around 3pm on Oct 4, causing many users nationwide unable to access voice and data services.

It did not take long for “Celcom down” and “Celcom no service” to make it on Twitter’s trending list, with many users complaining and expressing their frustration.

The blue telco has since issued an apology to its customers for the unpleasant experience. The company said it will keep improving its network services from time to time for user’s convenience.

Celcom said the technical issue has since been resolved and service has been gradually restored.

Subsequently, customers were given free Internet for a period of time after suffering a three-hour breakdown of services.

“As a token of appreciation, Celcom will not deduct data usage from the allocated quota of all its affected users from 6pm until 12am yesterday.

“Subscribers from other service providers using Celcom’s network such as XOX, Yoodo, redONE, ALTEL and unifi mobile for areas without Telekom Malaysia Bhd’s 4G coverage were also affected and could receive similar offers,” it said.

Mohamad Yusrizal said CFM sees this as not just an issue of offering free data for the inconvenience, but that consumers need reassurance that such disruption should not be an occurrence, adding that consumers should be notified immediately if they are facing service disruption.