KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Of the total active phone numbers in Malaysia, the bulk or 70.81% are on prepaid plans, according to Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil.

“Of the 49.4 million mobile service user numbers in Malaysia as of the second quarter of 2023, 34.98 million were prepaid users, while the remaining 14.45 million were post-paid,” he told the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday.

Fahmi was responding to Ampang Member of Parliament Rodziah Ismail, who asked whether Putrajaya would entertain the idea of introducing a policy to permanently deactivate recycled phone numbers to address issues concerning breach of privacy.

The minister, who is the MP for Lembah Pantai, said that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had only received a total of 80 complaints on recycled phone numbers since 2021.

Fahmi said that this is a mere fraction — 0.00016% — of the total active numbers in Malaysia.

“Apart from natural resources like petroleum and gold, numbers are also a type of resource that needs to be well managed,” Fahmi said, noting that usage of recycled numbers is done in accordance with the MCMC’s Number and Electronic Addressing Plan to avoid wastage.

Under the plan, inactive phone numbers undergo a six-month “cooling-off” or quarantine period prior to being reused by a new user.

Fahmi noted that this practice is common, pointing to the US' 45-day cooling-off period, Singapore's 90 days, and Australia's six months.

“Although measures to reduce problems and risks have been taken, the 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.

He added that despite the small number of complaints, the ministry via the MCMC will contnue to improve existing procedures from time to time to ensure users’ comfort.

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