110 complaints were received during the first six months of this year by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).

It said that 81% of these related to electronic communications services (i.e. internet, TV, mobile and fixed telephony) and 19% related to postal services.

The MCA recorded an increase of 4% in total number of complaints when compared to the last six months of 2020. 97% of these complaints were closed within 20 working days. The Authority said it also received 450 enquiries on various matters related to the sectors regulated by the Authority.

The Authority explained that “undoubtedly, telephony support remains one of the most common support channel among end-users.”

In order to monitor the provision of this type of support service, the MCA said that it measures the time taken for a telephone call to be answered by a customer care agent of the main communications service providers.

According to MCA’s measurements (a total of 685 measurements taken between January and June 2021), 72% of the calls made were answered by a telecoms operator within 5 minutes.

The MCA also conducted several test calls (a total of 273 measurements taken between January and June 2021) made to MaltaPost’s customer care telephony service and 83% of the calls were answered within 5 minutes, it said.

The statistics of complaints received by the MCA reveal that Quality of Service (QoS) remains the most common type of complaint with 41 complaints reported to the MCA. Faults (10) and customer care (10) issues topped the list of QoS complaints.

The Authority said that other QoS complaints received related to indoor mobile reception (7), internet speed (5), installation (5), mobile data (2), WiFi connection (1) and email service (1). The MCA also recorded other complaints which related to termination and switching (24), billing and tariffs (21), and contractual matters (3).

The MCA registered 21 postal complaints during the first half of 2021 and brought these cases to the attention of the service providers so that it could further investigate the matters raised and address any ensuing issues accordingly.

As part of MCA’s role to educate consumers when choosing an electronic communications service, the MCA said it has launched a price comparison tool (Telecosts.com) to assist consumers in selecting the most suitable tariff plan for their needs. Telecosts.com compares the different tariff plans offered by all the different local telecoms service providers.

During the first six months of its launch the MCA positively noted that over 10,000 users had visited this portal.

More information on the complaints and enquiries received by the MCA and other initiatives taken by the MCA to protect consumers are accessible here.

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