SHAH ALAM, 12 Nov: The increase in charges imposed by ASTRO is not warranted since the services offered do not correspond with the price paid by the customers.
The PKR Consumerism Bureau Chairman, Yahya Sahri, said that the company also needs to upgrade services offered to customers before charges are increased.
He said repeated broadcast and service interruptions during rain should also be improved because the price charged does not commensurate with what is offered by ASTRO.
“We consider the action as unwarranted because it directly oppresses users. Many customers complain of not receiving quality services which matches the charges,” he said when contacted by Selangor Kini today.
Yahya said that the central government should also end ASTRO’s monopoly and approve paid television service licences for other companies.
He said that the implementation will create healthy competition among service providers, like what is happening between communication service providers, to enable users to make a choice.
“ASTRO has already hugely profited and monopolised the market. So it is unwarranted for the service charges to be increased,” he said.
In relation to this, he urged the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia to take decisive action to prevent the increase in charges, and users are also asked to not subscribe to ASTRO as a sign of protest against the company.
Prior to this, ASTRO informed that they will be imposing an additional charge of RM2 for the family package and RM6 for the sports package, starting from 24 November.
