TNM Plc responds to Parliamentary Committee led by MP Silvester Ayuba James pressing for roll over of unused data bundles

* The rollover feature previously limited to monthly packages but now it will be introduced for smaller bundles to allow customers to carry forward unused data into new subscriptions

By Duncan Mlanjira

After chairperson of Parliamentary Committee of Commissions, Statutory Corporations & State Enterprises announced that at an interface meeting he led with Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) where, among others, they pressed for rolling over of unused data bundles, TNM Plc has swiftly moved to roll out  the process.

TNM Chief Executive Officer, Michel Hebert is quoted by Times360Malawi that the rollover feature previously limited to monthly packages but now it will be introduced for smaller bundles to allow customers to carry forward unused data into new subscriptions.

He announced this during a TNM Board tour of infrastructure, customer care facilities and the Limbe TNM shop, saying the company has invested US$30 million in infrastructure and new equipment to improve service delivery and customer experience.

“We are introducing rollover for daily and weekly bundles so that customers do not lose their data,” Hebert. “If you have unused data and you buy another bundle, it will be added to the new one.”

Also quoted is TNM Board chairperson, Ted Sauti Phiri, who said the investment underscores the company’s commitment to competitiveness and reliable digital services.

MP Ayuba James wrote on his Facebook account that the meeting with MACRA on Saturday, the Parliamentary Committee also pressed for “establishment of a mobile operator central database for Malawi and neighbouring countries for tracking serial numbers for cellphones, improved quality of mobile network and increased access to mobile network among rural users in Malawi”.

“MACRA made a serious undertaking to contact the two mobile operators and to spearhead the initiative for establishment of a central database. “Today, TNM has responded, very positively.

“As Parliamentary Committee, we consider this a huge stride for the benefit of Malawians. Thank you, tnm for being positively responsive.”

Most Malawians had been complaining that a subscription of a bundle of, say K18,000, would provide 30GB of data usage but in the case that one is not able to consume it all within the prescribed period, “why should the bundle expire”?

“Under the poor, intermittent and in some instances whole outage of internet services, the service providers will still charge you as though everything is normal,” wrote one subscriber on Facebook responding to MP Ayuba James’ post.