The Malta Communications Authority has reported a 45 per cent increase in complaints during the last six months of 2020.

Between July 1 and December 31, the MCA received 106 complaints from customers concerned about their landline, mobile, Internet, TV and postal services. 

The majority of the problems, some 61 per cent, were related to electronic communications services, while the remainder were about the postal service, the MCA's half-yearly report said. 

MCA highlight the (ECS) and postal services complaints received by the Authority in the last six months of 2020 Photo: MCA

Most common complaint related to quality of service

Most complaints were related to ‘quality of service’ (QoS), with 38 concerned about issues from faults, customer care, internet speed and mobile reception. 

The authority also provided statistics on the number of complaints received in relation to the service provider.

According to the statistics, Epic, which is the new face of Vodafone Malta received the highest number of complaints related to mobile services (14). Customers also complained about the company's internet service (6). 

Statistics provided by MCA on the complaints received, the services and the ECS provider Photo:MTA

The second most frequent type of complaint received was related to billing issues, with a total of 21 complaints reported to the MCA. In 12 of these cases, the MCA determined that the service provider needed to take necessary actions to address the issues reported. 

Most complaints (92 per cent) were resolved within 20 working days.

Substantial increase in postal complaints in past six months

The authority also registered 41 postal complaints during the second half of 2020, the majority, 37 relating to MaltaPost  and four complaints relating to UPS. 

The number of complaints regarding postal service shot up in the last six months of 2020, increasing from 16 in the first six months, to 41. 

The number of complaints varied, the majority (14) related to difficulties experienced by customers when trying to get in touch with a customer care agent of the postal operator.

In these case MCA referred the matter to the respective postal operator and ensured that a customer care agent provided the necessary assistance to its customers.

The other complaints were related to the quality of the delivery of postal items.

543 enquiries on various matters 

The Authority also saw an increase in enquiries when compared to the first six months, which increased by 34 percent. 

It received 543 enquiries on various matters from customers who are seeking information about subjects related to customer support services, tariffs and charges and termination of services.