Telekom Malaysia (TM) said on Friday it will rebuild network infrastructure damaged by a gas explosion in the township of Putra Heights in Subang Jaya on Tuesday and provide assistance to customers affected by the blast.
The explosion and fire – which was reportedly caused by a ruptured Petronas gas pipeline – happened on the morning of April 1. No fatalities were reported, but around 145 residents were injured and 305 displaced, according to Associated Press. On Sunday, Selangor police chief Hussein Omar Khan said 219 homes were damaged by the fire, with 87 of them suffering “major damage”, according to the official Bernama news agency.
Telekom Malaysia said in a statement it will rebuild affected network infrastructure in stages, based on the severity of the damage, once it receives clearance from Bomba (a.k.a. the Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia) and relevant authorities. Khan said on Sunday the ground where the explosion happened “remains highly unstable” due to the explosion, as well as recent heavy rainfall, and that it will take around ten days to stabilise it.
Meanwhile, customers of TM’s Unifi Home service will have their bills waived for at least one month, “depending on the progress of network restoration”, the statement said.
TM will also extend credit terms to 60 days with no service suspension, replace damaged customer premises equipment (CPE) such as routers, modems or mesh devices at no charge, and provide free on-site support and standard internal wiring.
TM is also providing free Wi-Fi at temporary evacuation centres, as well as essential supplies to affected families through the collective efforts of the government’s disaster response network GLC Demi Rakyat & Negara (GDRN).
“We are mobilising all necessary resources to restore services swiftly and provide immediate relief to our impacted customers and communities,” said TM group CEO Amar Huzaimi Md Deris in a statement.
CelcomDigi said on Friday it is also pitching in to help customers affected by the explosion, and has set up counters at both relief centres at Putra Heights Mosque and Dewan Camelia offering assistance such as postpaid bill waivers, prepaid credit, SIM replacements and distribution of power banks.
