KUALA LUMPUR: Complaints involving network connectivity have increased by almost two-fold in the first quarter of this year, according to data from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Its chairman said in the final quarter of last year, it only recorded 28,577 complaints compared to 59,739 complaints in the third quarter.
Though it decreased last year, the number of complaints bounced back to 54,538 complaints in the first quarter this year, said MCMC chairman Dr Fadhlullah Suhaimi Abdul Malek.
"This might be due to the reinforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on January 13 this year.
"Since more people are working from home, there are more connectivity issues," he said during a live media briefing update on Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) quarterly report through Zoom today.
He explained that the complaints are mainly due to shifts in traffic from businesses and offices to residential and increased demands for bandwidth due to MCO.
Poor coverage of 4G and LTE had the most number of complaints reported at 29,495 followed by no 4G and LTE coverage at 8,908 complaints.
The quality of 4G services remains a concern, hence Fadhlullah Suhaimi said Jendela will continue to optimise the 4G coverage.
"Service providers are continuously upgrading and optimising the infrastructure at all the reported districts to improve the service quality," he added.
On the topic of infrastructure, cost of doing business with states for tower structures as of March 31 was categorised as high costs at 10 states.
Sarawak was listed as the highest for the cost of deployment of the new tower for the first year at a maximum price of RM37,600.
He also said that the local government at each state fixed their own criteria and rate.
"The cost of approval differs according to the respective local authorities. It is similar to quit rent where the amount is different from area A compared to area B.
"Moreover the cost for deployment, in terms of logistics to remote areas, is slightly higher," he said.
In order to get a lower fees to do business with the states, MCMC has continuously engaged with the respective local authorities and it has found to be fruitful with the recent meeting with Terengganu representatives.
"We explained that it is a form of investment for the state, a revenue to the state.
"Now they have adopted it as a third utility," he added.
Amongst those present during the Zoom session were Telekom Malaysia Bhd group chief executive officer (CEO) Imri Mokhtar, Celcom Axiata Bhd CEO Idham Nawawi, DiGi's chief executive officer Albern Murty, Maxis CEO Gokhan Ogut, Time executive director Lee Guan Hong and U Mobile head of regulatory Eric Liew Sze Yarn.