UPDATE (19 Nov – 1145AM): TM has shared a number of pictures on unifi’s Facebook page that showed the damaged cables at the affected areas alongside brief explanations of the repairs that were being done on them. Read further for more.
UPDATE (19 Nov – 1032AM): TM has released another statement that provides an update regarding the repair status. Read further to learn more.
ORIGINAL STORY (1146PM):
TM has provided an official statement regarding the slowdown that unifi, Streamyx, and unifi Mobile customers might be facing at the moment. It also might apply to other customers which are using services from other companies that are running on TM’s fiber infrastructure.
Once such service is Maxis Fibre which is also facing some slowdown at the moment. Here is the statement, reproduced in full:
STATEMENT FROM TM
18 NOVEMBER 2018
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) wishes to notify that our unifi, Streamyx, unifi Mobile as well as Wholesale services in Central, Northern, Eastern regions, Sabah and Sarawak have been disrupted since 11:00 p.m, 17 November 2018 due to multiple fibre cable cut incidents by 3rd party contractors in Sentul and Sabak Bernam.
We would like to update that service restoration activities are currently in progress and are expected to be completed at 6:00 a.m., Monday, 19 November 2018.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this and would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding during the affected period. Rest assured that the services will be back to normal upon completion of the restoration activities.
For any enquiries, customers can reach out to us via Live Chat at care@unifi app or unifi.com.my/chat, tweet us @helpmeunifi or message us at facebook.com/weareunifi.
This statement should help put some customers at ease but nevertheless, we are a little bit baffled that TM didn’t mention the cable cut incidents to its customers much earlier. In many ways, the company should have been more open and proactive when it comes to informing users regardings matters that are related to the quality of its services.
Meanwhile, we are now still waiting for official response from Maxis to see whether these cable cut incidents were indeed the reason behind Maxis Fibre’s slowdown or otherwise. Just to be sure.
UPDATE (19 Nov – 1032AM):
TM today has released yet another official statement regarding the repair works that were being done on the two busted fibre cables. It has also provided a better picture of the construction works that have caused damages on both cables.
Here is the statement, reproduced in full:
STATEMENT FROM TM
19 NOVEMBER 2018
Following our alert yesterday on the service disruption which affected our unifi, Streamyx, unifi Mobile as well as Wholesale services in Central, Northern, Eastern regions, Sabah and Sarawak since 11:00 p.m, 17 November 2018, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) would like to clarify that the disruption was attributed to multiple fibre cable cut incidents due to the ongoing road works by MRT 3rd party contractors in Sentul and Sabak Bernam West Coast Expressway (WSE) contractors in Sabak Bernam.
Our technical team started work on the affected cables as soon as the fault report was lodged. We would like to update that while the fibre cable cuts repair and replacement works are still underway, we have optimised the network by rerouting traffic and fully restored the services affected at 10:00 a.m. today so that the internet experience is back to normal.
Meanwhile, we have highlighted this issue to the local authority council to prevent this from recurring and we are taking necessary actions against the contractors.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this and would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding during the affected period. Rest assured that the services will be back to normal upon completion of the restoration activities.
For any enquiries, customers can reach out to us via Live Chat at care@unifi app or unifi.com.my/chat, tweet us @helpmeunifi or message us at facebook.com/weareunifi.
All in all, users’ Internet experience should have returned back to normal by now. If you still experiencing slowdown, then you might want to reach out to TM via its customer service channels as mentioned above.
UPDATE (19 Nov – 1145AM):
TM has shared a set of photos from the two areas where the cable cut incidents took place:
While it took them slightly more time to provide updates on the situation, this level of communication from TM is certainly quite unprecedented. As far as we can recall, never before TM provided not only multiple updates regarding on-going repair job but also actual on-ground photos.
We don’t know whether this was driven by the intense amount of pressure that the company has been facing for the past few months or a directive from the newly appointed Interim Group CEO. Nevertheless, we like what seeing here – a more open communication by TM – and we hope this is going to be a new norm.
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