KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Health Ministry (MOH) frontliners in 57 hospitals battling Covid-19 nationwide will get a special one-month free relief service for their Celcom postpaid accounts for the month of July.

MOH frontliners registered as Celcom prepaid customers will also enjoy free prepaid credits worth RM30, valid for 30 days, for the same month, the mobile network operator said in a statement.

Celcom Axiata Bhd chief executive officer Idham Nawawi said the group offered the special relief to express gratitude to the medical frontliners who had braved themselves to fight and curb the contagion in Malaysia.

"As they spend so much time away from their loved ones during the crisis, their welfare is as important to us. Therefore, their postpaid bills and prepaid credits for the month of July is on us,” he said.

He said frontliners besides medical personnel, such as the police and military, were also accorded a priority service lane in all bluecube outlets nationwide.

The special rebate is also extended to medical frontliners working in listed hospitals who have yet to become Celcom users.

"Medical frontliners are welcomed to register via Celcom’s ‘Pakej Penjawat Awam’ postpaid plan before June 15 or visit www.celcom.com.my or the nearest Celcom bluecube for more information,” said Idham.

Meanwhile, Celcom is also helping its Grab driver and delivery partners to stay connected with their customers in light of the movement control order (MCO) which has changed the public’s purchasing behaviour towards greater dependency on services.

In this regard, more than 120,000 Celcom’s Grab partners are eligible to receive communication relief that includes rebates and special offerings.

In support of Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Celcom also collaborated with Google and hosted a webinar for the target group and business partners within the telco’s ecosystem.

"Through the webinar, smaller scale enterprises with impacted businesses were educated with digital tools and strategies to help them overcome the situation.

"It has always been our interest to create a ‘win-win’ situation and providing our support to our business partners and clients. We have started by helping the SMEs to cushion the economic impacts by providing micro financing via the Axiata Covid-19 Assistance Programme,” said Idham.

According to him, Celcom is also helping to gear SMEs further in bracing through upcoming economic challenges by leveraging on the group’s capacity, expertise, services, as well as business network and catalyse digital adoption among them.

Idham further disclosed that throughout the MCO and conditional MCO, Celcom provided various communications relief support in a few locations, including quarantine centres and Covid-19 operation centres nationwide.

Other initiatives included a cellular-on-wheels at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang for connectivity, provision of mobile devices, postpaid and prepaid lines for the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, Putrajaya, Mercy/PPUM Association, and quarantine centres in Jerantut and Bentong (Pahang), Perak Covid-19 Call Centre, and Penang’s Covid-19 Operation Centre. — Bernama