Why prepaid registrations have to be done right.

Kashminder Singh

The compulsory prepaid registration exercise is in a mess. What was supposed to be a smooth exercise has gone terribly wrong. Some are even asking if we should even bother to proceed with the farce.

Hardly had it started that reports emerged saying that registration exercise was being done in the most relaxed of ways. People were able to get starter packs from almost any handphone shop without showing their IC. Then it became known that only 15% of existing subscribers had actually registered in the ‘supposedly okay’ pilot exercises earlier in Penang and Melaka.

And, instead of cracking the whip, the authorities caved in and pushed the deadline to 31st December 2006. In the meantime, it’s still status quo. Last I checked I can still get the starter packs I want by putting my name down as Sharukh Khan.

Stop or go?
So should the exercise proceed?

I think it should and for two very important reasons.

The first reason is obvious. A lot of bad guys will be put out of business. Okay, maybe not the very evil ones. It would make it more difficult for terrorists to be able to acquire phone lines but not impossible. But this exercise can put loan sharks, extortionists and blackmailers out of business. Not to mention ditched boyfriends and violent ex-husbands. That alone is a very good reason to make sure that every mobile phone user in Malaysia is verified. The present unregulated situation is just too dangerous given the current state of things. It is also important to understand that we are not alone in this. Countries after countries are doing the same thing.

But there is yet another more important reason. The underlying issue that needs to be addressed is that of control. Who really is in control: the telcos or the authorities? The way this episode has unfolded, raises many questions. This was a directive from the authorities but the telcos have not treated it as one. Instead of tough action when it was revealed that compliance was almost zero, it only resulted in postponement of the deadline. This affair speaks volume of just how much muscle the telcos have.



Taking back control
Think about it. It cannot be good for consumers – which is why we must press the issue - when regulators cannot enforce a simple ruling. What will be the chances for users to get a fair deal when a bigger issue is being decided? When I was in Singapore recently, an observer told me, half jokingly, “Here, the authorities simply issue a directive and the telcos follow. No ‘if’s’ and ‘but’s’. In Malaysia, the telcos seem to be very strong and always have excuses for not following directives.”  I too think that when the MCMC says jump, the telcos should only ask “How high?”.

This is not an isolated incident. The telcos have been dragging their feet when it comes to providing nationwide coverage. The number portability timeline is another example of something useful that is being pushed too far into the future.

It’s time for the regulators to show who’s in charge. Get the telcos to not only look at ICs but to make photocopies of the ICs. Even better, embed details of the users into their MyKads. A senior MCMC officer told me privately that this is possible and to the best of my knowledge, MyKads were created specifically for these sorts of reasons.