KUALA LUMPUR - Come Sept 15, Some 13 million prepaid users in Malaysia is about to pay more for airtime, because the mobile operators in Malaysia plans to pass down the 6% service tax imposed by the government. This means, a customer will need to pay RM10.60 for a RM10 prepaid reload. According to mobile operators, the move was to ensure mobile prepaid services remained competitive compared with postpaid. They said, with prepaid rates progressively reduced over the years, it is currently offered at very competitive rates.
Telecommunications analysts view the news as "generally positive" for mobile operators, with DiGi.Com Bhd seen as the biggest beneficiary and Maxis Bhd benefiting the least. - Today, prepaid users are spending about RM36 to RM51 a month and analysts believe the implementation of the service tax is unlikely to reduce prepaid users spending significantly.
However, The Malaysian Handphone Users Association president Mohd Ali Ibrahim is against the passing of the tax to users. He feels the parties involved the association, the telcos and the regulator should sit down to find ways not to burden the consumers, who he believes are already burdened with a high cost of living.Postpaid users pay their own taxes but for prepaid, the service providers say they have been absorbing the cost.
The questions to ask are whether it is a full absorption or whether the tax is bundled in the call charges. We really don't know, as there is no transparency in that, Mohd Ali said.
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