KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 18): The new prices for the provision of the facilities and services by telecommunication companies in Malaysia set by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) under the Mandatory Standard on Access (MSAP) is expected by February 2023.
“The costing that will come up for the next revision by January or February next year will be something that is going to be applicable for the next two years until 2025,” said MCMC chief operating officer Datuk Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus on Tuesday (Oct 18).
He told the media after a virtual presentation on the National Digital Network Plan (Jendela) Phase 1 performance for the third quarter (Q3) of 2022.
“In terms of review on the MSAP, that is MCMC’s plan to revise upward or downward the rate charges, it will be related to the inputs that will be coming in once the inquiry has been completed; we will analyse all inputs,” he said.
The MCMC has published a public inquiry paper on the Review of Access Pricing on Oct 5, wherein it invites submissions from industry participants, other interested parties and members of the public by Nov 21, on questions and issues raised in the paper.
The MSAP, which resulted in the reduction in fixed broadband prices, was implemented on June 8, 2018 by the Pakatan Harapan government. The revision of the MSAP is done on a three-year interval.
The yet-to-be-released new prices hang an uncertainty on the future earnings of Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM), which controls the bulk of fixed broadband subscriptions.
According to a note by CGS-CIMB on Oct 7, MCMC has set proposed prices that are higher than in 2017.
“In the 2017 Review of Access Pricing, the final price was circa 159%-283% higher versus the proposed rates,” analyst Foong Choong Chen and Sherman Lam Hsien Jin wrote.
“Based on the proposed rates, we estimate the wholesale cost for a new 100Mbps plan at RM69 to RM76 per month,” they said.
TM’s share price had fallen from RM3.88 on June 8, 2018 to RM2.15 on Oct 26, 2018, before it rebounded. On Tuesday, TM‘s share price closed 22 sen or 4.24% higher at RM5.41, with a market capitalisation of RM20.49 billion.