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Competent Regulation to Promote Investment
Regulation and monitoring of the industry is important
to ensure the whole eco-system is optimised to ensure a
level playing field for all and that the right platform and
infrastructure are built by licensees to meet the demands
of consumers. A strong regulatory framework will promote
confidence in the sector and in return promote investment.
It will certainly move the industry forward to achieve the
ten national policy objectives for communications and
multimedia services for the country.
Monitoring of performance and compliance of licensees,
consumer and content codes, access and interconnection,
mandatory codes, offences and prohibitions under the CMA
1998, as always takes up a lot of resources in 2009 as well
as in 2010. The Commission had its hands full managing
the increasing number of cases on improper use of online,
new media and Internet abuse. Generally compliance by
licensees were good overall and those service providers
were very responsive in addressing non-compliances.
Security on the Internet remains a concern from the number
of phishing incidences and its impact on level of confidence
in online transaction.
Most cases investigated indicated that consumer awareness
on cyber crimes, online ethics and available security tools
are required to strengthen consumers against on-line
security breaches.
Protecting the Consumer
Consumers in Malaysia are today spoilt for choice among the
many packages offered by service providers. The choices
may be between a wired and wireless service, how much
bandwidth to subscribe, post or pre paid, digital satellite or
broadband IPTV, the period of subscription, the devices on
offer, easy payment schemes, coverage and quality offered
and ultimately which service provider to choose from.
Consumers now also have the ability to port their mobile
number since the numbers are no longer tied to a particular
service provider because of their mobile number. Such
freedom of choice presents a challenge to the consumer
to be adequately informed in regard to the products and
services on offer and to know what is best for them.
In such an environment, consumer complaint resolution and
education is of paramount importance. The Commission
together with the designated industry consumer forum
provides such advocacy. The main objective is to create
an environment with a high level of self regulation where
consumer issues are discussed, debated and resolved by
the industry itself with minimum intervention from the
Commission. Ultimately, consumer awareness is improved
and with their collective strength could influence service
providers to ensure good products and service and honour
their promise. In this respect, the year had seen many
engagements either through exhibitions and events to
education forums for consumers.
With the development of industry and further choices for
consumers, the number of consumer complaints had grown
in tandem. Consumer awareness programmes on Internet
safety, online transactions, online ethics, radiation safety
issues from cellular base stations and mobile phones were
held throughout the country in collaboration with consumer
forums and other Government agencies. With the efforts
on awareness and education, MCMC’s recent Internet User
Survey shows an increase in awareness on these two
issues.
Ensuring That We Are 1 ‘Connected’ Malaysia
The push to ensure that no one is left out in obtaining
access to broadband services reached a feverish tempo
in 2010. The National Broadband Initiative left no stone
unturned, with added programmes such as the 1Malaysia
Netbook initiative with a target delivery of up to 1 million
netbooks to deserving groups. Each netbook is packaged
with broadband connectivity in order that the recipients
to be connected to the Internet. This initiative is further
supported by the USP Community Broadband Centres (CBC)
infrastructure and new community broadband wireless
access (CBA) points, also known as ‘Kampung Tanpa Wayar’
or Wireless Villages. The Kampung Tanpa Wayar initiative is
a subset to the Digital District, another initiative embarked
to complete the holistic broadband picture.
The Magic Map tool that we have developed earlier was put
to good use in the mapping, planning and identification of
areas to enable the express delivery of the broadband access
services so that the 1Malaysia Netbooks can immediately
be used when it arrives in the hands of those identified
recipients. I would say that this is a landmark programme
and does attract a lot of local and international attention,
but more rewarding is when we see the glittering eyes and
the happiness of the young student recipients as they walk
up to receive this tool meant to better their future.
Research initiatives to address needs and build
knowledge resource
Research is a key process to address industry challenges
and in charting the way forward in a well informed manner.
It helps to build a knowledge resource base, databases
and a networking forum from which we can rely on as well
as builds confidence in our approaches in tackling issues
and industry development. The Commission conducts its
own research on a regular basis as well as collaborate
or outsourced to others including Institutions of Higher
Learning and research service houses.
The Commission have ongoing research programmes in the
areas of new media, spectrum technical and management,
consumer protection, statistical and market research
as well as publications and education forums such as
seminars to inform the industry of findings. Our series of
studies on hand phone users and household use of the
Internet survey provide interesting insights into how the
Malaysian demographics react to the use of the two key
communication tools available to them.
Notable of mention in 2010 is the launch of our MCMC
TecnoLab (Technology Innovation Lab) where research,
technology and innovation of new products and services
are showcased for visitors to experience. In the first series
of exhibition the iDOLA netbook and WiWi access point
were featured.