PETALING JAYA: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was a trending personality on Twitter as most users posted “thank you” messages to show their appreciation for the economic stimulus package he announced.
The Hashtag #TSMY (an abbreviation of his full name and title), for instance, had over 75,000 tweets as of press time, with many widely hailing the free mobile Internet offer.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said Maxis, Celcom, Digi and U Mobile users would receive 1GB free data daily, to be utilised between 8am and 6pm, from April 1 until the movement control order (MCO) ends.
This package, which is valued at RM600mil, would also allow users to make free calls to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre and state health department hotlines.
Plus, telecommunication companies have committed to investing RM400mil up to the second quarter of this year to improve network coverage, stability and quality.
Student Ariesya Roslan was happy with the announcement, saying it was “unexpected”.
She has a prepaid telco plan and spends a minimum of RM50 a month for 20GB of data.
“Since the MCO started, I’ve been using up a lot of data to stream videos and was worried about having to spend more for extra data. This incentive will help ease my mind a bit,” she said.
Timothy Anderson Romy, a content assistant at an e-commerce platform, spends RM35 a month for a 6GB Internet pass.
“The initiative will benefit a lot of people who need more Internet data at this time,” he said, hoping that telcos would introduce other initiatives such as giving users more time to pay their bills.
“That would help ease the burden of those who can’t afford to settle their monthly telco bills during this difficult period.
“The people in rural communities, especially, will need more help financially to maintain their telco plan,” he said.
Student Suky Gill also agreed that the Federal Government should give more time for users to pay their monthly telco bills.
“Perhaps, a little discount like between 10% and 20% of the total bill. The crisis is leaving some of us in a tight financial spot.
“As some of us are already using home broadband with unlimited data, the free offer may not make a difference,” she said.
The thought was echoed by Ron Jeyathurai Bakcus, who said if users were not given time to pay their bills, they may not even have a line to enjoy the free data.
“I need consistent Internet service as I’m working from home. Since remuneration is slow, having the bill payment extended would be very helpful at this time,” he said.
Audio and visual executive Shafiq Ahmad said his telco bill had increased since the MCO started.
“I used to just pay RM50 a month for my prepaid plan. But now with the MCO, I have to spend up to RM120 just to add on more data.
“I’m not sure how much free additional data we will be getting from this initiative but if it’s just 1GB per day, it won’t be enough,” he said.
Shafiq felt it would be more helpful if the government also encouraged employers to subsidise mobile data, as more people needed it to work from home.
The Hashtag #TSMY (an abbreviation of his full name and title), for instance, had over 75,000 tweets as of press time, with many widely hailing the free mobile Internet offer.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said Maxis, Celcom, Digi and U Mobile users would receive 1GB free data daily, to be utilised between 8am and 6pm, from April 1 until the movement control order (MCO) ends.
This package, which is valued at RM600mil, would also allow users to make free calls to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre and state health department hotlines.
Plus, telecommunication companies have committed to investing RM400mil up to the second quarter of this year to improve network coverage, stability and quality.
Student Ariesya Roslan was happy with the announcement, saying it was “unexpected”.
She has a prepaid telco plan and spends a minimum of RM50 a month for 20GB of data.
“Since the MCO started, I’ve been using up a lot of data to stream videos and was worried about having to spend more for extra data. This incentive will help ease my mind a bit,” she said.
Timothy Anderson Romy, a content assistant at an e-commerce platform, spends RM35 a month for a 6GB Internet pass.
“The initiative will benefit a lot of people who need more Internet data at this time,” he said, hoping that telcos would introduce other initiatives such as giving users more time to pay their bills.
“That would help ease the burden of those who can’t afford to settle their monthly telco bills during this difficult period.
“The people in rural communities, especially, will need more help financially to maintain their telco plan,” he said.
Student Suky Gill also agreed that the Federal Government should give more time for users to pay their monthly telco bills.
“Perhaps, a little discount like between 10% and 20% of the total bill. The crisis is leaving some of us in a tight financial spot.
“As some of us are already using home broadband with unlimited data, the free offer may not make a difference,” she said.
The thought was echoed by Ron Jeyathurai Bakcus, who said if users were not given time to pay their bills, they may not even have a line to enjoy the free data.
“I need consistent Internet service as I’m working from home. Since remuneration is slow, having the bill payment extended would be very helpful at this time,” he said.
Audio and visual executive Shafiq Ahmad said his telco bill had increased since the MCO started.
“I used to just pay RM50 a month for my prepaid plan. But now with the MCO, I have to spend up to RM120 just to add on more data.
“I’m not sure how much free additional data we will be getting from this initiative but if it’s just 1GB per day, it won’t be enough,” he said.
Shafiq felt it would be more helpful if the government also encouraged employers to subsidise mobile data, as more people needed it to work from home.
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