Only 80 complaints on recycled phone numbers since 2021 - Fahmi

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has received only 80 complaints on recycled mobile phone numbers since 2021, said Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

He said this is equivalent to 0.0016 per cent of the overall mobile service users in the country which have surpassed 49.4 million users as of the second quarter of this year.

"Usage of recycled numbers is an existing policy under the Numbering and Electronic Addressing Plan (NEAP) 2023 to ensure each number allocated is reused to avoid wastage.

"Despite the small number of complaints, the ministry through MCMC is improving the existing procedures from time to time to ensure the comfort of consumers,” he said during question time at Dewan Rakyat today.

Fahmi was replying to a question by Rodziah Ismail (PH-Ampang) who asked the Communications and Digital Minister to state the possibility of setting a policy to cancel recycled number to ensure the security of consumers.

According to Fahmi, in order to reduce the risk related to calls to users of old numbers, these inactive numbers will enter a quarantine or cooling off period for at least six months before they can be reused again.

He said the practice of using all old phone numbers and quarantine period is also used in other countries such as the United States (45 days), Australia (six months) and Singapore (90 days).

"Although measures to reduce problems and risks have been taken, MCMC cannot prevent the bank or any service from storing its customers' personal data for a long period of time.

"Therefore, in dealing with this matter, new users should also be careful to block phone numbers by using the existing functions found in mobile phones," he said.

Fahmi said if there are calls that threaten the safety of new users or face fraudulent crimes, users are advised to make a police report and report it to the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) helpline, 997.

Meanwhile, in reply a supplementary question by Roslan Hashim (PN-Kulim-Bandar Baharu) on whether the government has plans to extend NSRC operations to 24 hours to facilitate victim to report, Fahmi said the ministry will examine all ways to improve public access to channel complaints about problems faced them.

"Currently the NSRC is still operating from 8am until 8pm, but on Oct 13 we received an additional injection of funds, so we will work to improve the service," he said. - BERNAMA