Fahmi told the Dewan Rakyat today that only a small number of cases of harassment were linked to recycled numbers.

He said the authorities only received 80 complaints, which accounted for 0.00016% of the 49.4 million mobile phone subscriptions in the country.

So, he said, the government did not plan to deviate from the current policy of recycling mobile phone numbers subject to a six-month “quarantine” period before they can be used by a new user.

Some 8.15 million mobile phone numbers are under “quarantine”.

“Even though mitigation measures have been implemented, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission cannot stop banks or companies from storing a person’s personal data for long periods of time,” he said.

Fahmi said users could opt to block calls from unwanted phone numbers. They could also lodge a report with the police if they receive threatening calls.

He was responding to a question from Rodziah Ismail (PH-Ampang) who asked if the government intended to cancel inactive numbers instead of recycling them to protect consumers.

Fahmi said the practice of recycling mobile phone numbers was also in use in the US, Australia and Singapore.

Australia also sets a “quarantine” period of six months, while the US and Singapore set a “quarantine” period of 45 days and 90 days, respectively.