Soon-to-be-public-listed telecommunications company Time dotCom has yet to pay several million ringgit owed to marketeers who were allocated contracts to sign up subscribers for the "Time Gold " service, said one of the complainants.

The "Time Gold" service offers subscribers up to 50 percent discount on all outstation and international calls by using Internet technology through Time dotCom's fibre optic network.

One complainant who was contracted by the company said negotiations with Time dotCom are still going on, and he has yet to receive over RM2 million for the work he and his staff of 200 had done.

He said that the contract stated that for every subscriber that he signed up, he would be paid RM30.

"As the networkers managed to get 500,000 subscribers, Time dotCom would need to come up with almost RM15 million to pay all of us," said the complainant who declined to be named.

"Time dotCom has paid us a little and it promised to pay the rest before Chinese New Year (late January). Up till today, we have not received anything. It is only after much insistence that they are now willing to hold talks with us," he added.

When contacted, Time dotCom group communications manager Michael Ng said the reason the firm had delayed payments was because "the networkers are under investigation (for phantom subscribers) and once this is sorted out, we will pay them".

Ng also promised to respond to queries in black and white but the company has yet to do so despite two follow-up calls by malaysiakini .

Discount phone calls

The complainant reported that Time dotCom initially gave contracts to networkers to market the "equal access 183 " service, and then later the "Time Gold" service, which allows a 20 percent discount on every call the subscriber makes.

He said that the networkers rented "a lot of places" in shopping complexes and elsewhere to woo people to sign up for the service.

The networkers were paid for their services promptly in August and September last year but from October, Time dotCom delayed the payments, claimed the complainant.

"They told us that they would pay us before Hari Raya (in late December) but then they did not. We held a protest - with about 100 of us - in front of Time dotCom office just before Hari Raya," said the networker.

The networkers then held a meeting with the management of Time dotCom.

"They initially agreed to pay 70 percent of what they owe us. Then it was reduced to 50 percent and later 20 percent, finally they decided not to pay at all," said the networker.

He said the networkers had insisted that Time dotCom pay 20 percent of what is owed.

Phantom subscribers

However, Time dotCom has countered their demand with allegations that the networkers had signed up "phantom subscribers".

The networker conceded that there were phantom subscribers, but said that their numbers were small.

"What actually happened is that some of the subscribers gave the telephone number of their parents or relatives, and when Time dotCom called them up, the owner of the phone line at times would say that the other person was not in," explained the networker.

The networker said that "phantoms" could also be those who had signed up earlier but by the time Time dotCom called them, they might have forgotten about it.

"In my first batch, I only identified two phantoms," he said.

He claimed that Time dotCom avoided paying the top networkers as the amounts involved were very big.

"It is very hard to say why they are not paying. Maybe they are trying to list Time dotCom and they need the money," said the networker.

IPO under-subscription predicted

Time dotCom is scheduled to be listed next month and its initial public offer (IPO) ended yesterday, with several fund managers having advised investors to wait-and-see as they felt the offer price of RM3.30 was over-priced.

Some have predicted that the IPO would be under-subscripted.

Time dotCom, whose managing director is tycoon Halim Saad, had announced recently that it is investing RM40 million over the next two or three years to set up 20 integrated outlets.

The outlets are one-stop centres that will offer all Time dotCom high technology telecommunication services such as GPRS, WAP and 3G.