TM Discontinues 103 Directory Service Due to Personal Data Privacy Act

As companies are rushing to comply with the Personal Data Protection Act 2010, TM has announced that it will be discontinuing its 103 Directory Assistance service this Sunday, 16th February 2014. The service will be discontinued only for TM Residential customers and TM business customers will not be affected.

In case you’re wondering, TM’s 103 hotline is being managed by the Directory Service Centres located at Melaka, Kuala Lumpur and Kuching which has access to a database of fixed line phone numbers. When you call them up, they can provide the registered fixed line phone numbers simply by providing the person’s full name and location. If required, they can help to transfer you to the desired number at the end of the call. It is charged at RM0.30/call for TM fixed line users while mobile users will be charged more at RM2/call.

This is probably seen as an easy way to mine phone numbers which is why the service is coming to an end. TM will also cease to produce white pages as well. Hopefully we should be getting fewer unwanted tele-marketing calls after this.