I find it highly amusing that the recent local telecom cost increases are being attacked by so many ignoramuses. The truth is that the increase in cost will not even come close to paying for the cost of local telecom services and improved services. The current criticism, like many problems in Malaysia, can only be described as too little, too late and way off the mark.

The truth is that putting in local fixed-line telephone services, particularly residential, is very expensive and in fact phone lines to rural areas do not recoup its investment even in decades!

The truth is that Telekom Malaysia squandered its monopoly long time ago and the new regime of deregulation makes it very tough, even with the current price increases, to make money and improve services.

This issue of local phone prices and services actually has its origin long time ago when government companies had bad management and was not held accountable.

Under privatisation, Telekom Malaysia actually improved tremendously which is why the real worry now is that when Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad decide to backtrack on privatisation and install cronies in the management of Telekom Malaysia, things will not only fail to be better, but more opportunities will be squandered.

If the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) and others want to gripe, they should instead criticise the government failure from long ago and also worry about the future. Not the current inevitable policies. Rebalancing local prices has to do with the changes in global telecom industries and less to do with Telekom Malaysia.

They should worry about why money is not being poured in high-speed digital lines but is instead used to bail out failing mobile phone companies. They should worry why vandals of public phones are not caught and punished severely.

They should worry why telecom infrastructure of many older opposition-controlled urban areas are old and antiquated. These are the things to worry about rather than things that cannot be changed.