TM Appealing to Government to Delay Reduction of Broadband Price – Mandatory Price Cuts on Hold?

It appears that TM is appealing to the government on the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP), which is probably why we haven’t seen huge price cuts.

TM Appealing to Government to Delay Revision of Internet Price

Image source: The Edge Markets

Remember when the Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh mentioned about wanting to bring the price of internet access in Malaysia down (while also maintaining the same, if not better quality) and the implementation of the Mandatory Standard on Access Pricing (MSAP)? It appears we may have seen the first big disagreement with regards to that goal.

According to a report by The Malaysian Reserve, Telekom Malaysia (TM) has appealed to the government to not only delay the implementation of MSAP, but to also revise it. The reason for this is that their earnings have allegedly been under pressure for the past few quarters and implementing MSAP will further reduce their earnings.

Of course, a reduction in earnings is to be expected as MSAP will see TM cutting the prices of their services down. An official appeal is said to have already been mate to the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the Ministry of Finance, backdated to January 2018.

For those of you who are not aware, MSAP will have a maximum price that can be charged service providers on facilities and services used by retail telcos. Exceeding the maximum amount is equivalent to breaking the law. It was supposed to be implemented on 1st January 2018 but was placed on hold after an appeal by TM to revise some of the pricing components earlier on.

For a better understanding of MSAP and all of its clauses, click here to read its official document courtesy of SKMM.

The MCMC also made a stipulation that all access agreements in accordance to the new MSAP prices must be completed by 31st July 2018. However, the telcos allegedly said that they have yet to receive any access agreement from TM that is MSA and MSAP-compliant.

With that being said, the deadline has now been extended to end of August 2018. Until then, we won’t know for sure what will happen but we can only hope for the best.

On a side note, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is looking to jump into the broadband service market, which would definitely a major competitor for TM. If you didn’t know about it, click right here to get up to speed.

Source: The Malaysian Reserve

Pokdepinion: Well, I hope they bring the prices down accordingly with MSAP sooner rather than later, instead of just getting free upgrades.