PETALING JAYA: Content Applications Service Providers (CASPs) will be required to adhere to the revised Mandatory Standards for Quality of Service (MsQoS) issued by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), aimed at improving service reliability and the handling of consumer complaints.
According to an MCMC statement, the revised standards will apply to CASPs, which include but are not limited to providers of free-to-air television, subscription broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and terrestrial radio services nationwide, with a six-month transition period granted from the date it goes into effect.
Under the MsQoS, CASPs must maintain at least 99% service availability, referring to the amount of time a service is operational and accessible to consumers, in each reporting period. Each reporting period is a half-calendar year ending on June 30 and Dec 31.
The standards for consumer complaints handling are as follows:
- Billing-related complaints must not exceed 1% per reporting period. This includes issues such as incorrect payments, non-refunds, late or missing bills, fraud, and other billing errors.
- Non-billing-related complaints must not exceed 10 complaints per 1,000 customers per reporting period. This covers issues such as service quality, delays in restoration, poor audio or video quality, staff conduct, and other technical or service experience problems.
- At least 70% of complaints must be closed within three working days and 90% within ten working days per reporting period. A complaint is considered closed once it is reasonably resolved and accepted by the customer.
"The revised standards enhance areas identified for improvement in the previous framework, including strengthening complaint resolution timelines by extending them to cover non-billing complaints with clearer and more comprehensive requirements.
"They also place greater emphasis on overall service experience and responsiveness, as well as introducing more robust requirements for record retention and performance transparency.
"These enhancements are intended to ensure that customer complaints are managed more effectively, service disruptions are addressed more promptly and issues are reasonably resolved and accepted by consumers," the statement says.
MCMC further states that it will monitor CASP compliance, with the providers required to submit Quality of Service performance reports and keep auditable records for a minimum of two years, subject to agency audits, sampling, and service observation.
"Through this determination, MCMC reaffirms its commitment to ensuring a fair, reliable and customer-centric communications and multimedia ecosystem," it says.
