Malaysian telcos gagged from announcing MNP promotions

Malaysia – The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has placed a gag order on telco providers following the mobile number portability (MNP) service’s "limited live trial" recently.

Maxis, DiGi, Celcom and U Mobile are believed to have been instructed by the regulators not to tell of any MNP promotional activities until after the "nationwide launch" of the service in October.

Spokespersons for telco companies confirmed the gag order, declining to offer more details.

Launched by the Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, the MNP allows mobile phone users to switch providers without changing their numbers.

The telco are being limited to 100 port requests per day for now, and will charge customers a maximum fee of RM25 per porting request encompassing administrative fees, a new SIM card and other relevant costs.

MNP is being launched in stages – first for the prepaid users while postpaid mobile phone users will enjoy the service starting 15 September.