The telecommunications sector looks to be heating up in Singapore with local service providers SingTel, StarHub and M1 soon to be facing a new competitor.
There has been much discussion about whether Singapore can sustain a fourth player, but with the incumbents all earning fat profits, there seem to be more than enough economic profits to be made.
One new “innovation”, or gimmick, as we prefer to call it, in the local telecommunication scene is the SIM only plans. At first glance, this may seem to be a cheaper and better deal for consumers, but upon closer inspection, it may not be the case. DollarsAndSense looks into it more closely.
What the local telcos offer:
| SingTel
|
Combo 3 (SingTel) | SIM Only Plan (equivalent) |
| Price | $62.90 | $30.00 |
| Price X 24 months | $1,509.60 | $720.00 |
| Cost of iPhone 6s 16 GB | $360.00 | $1048.00 |
| Handset subsidy | $(688.00) | – |
| Effective cost | $821.60 | $720.00 |
| Plan details (for reference/comparison) | ||
| Outgoing talktime | 300 mins | 200 mins |
| SMS/MMS | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| Data | 3GB | 3GB |
Customers on 24 months contracts (in this particular example) receive 100 minutes more free outgoing talk time.
| M1
|
i-Reg | SIM Only Plan (MySIM+ 30) |
| Price | $62.00 | $30.00 |
| Price X 24 months | $1,488.00 | $720.00 |
| Cost of iPhone 6s 16 GB | $375.00 | $1048.00 |
| Handset subsidy | $(673.00) | – |
| Effective cost | $815.00 | $720.00 |
| Plan details (for reference/comparison) | ||
| Outgoing talktime | 300 mins | 300 mins |
| SMS/MMS | 1,200 | 1,000 |
| Data | 4GB | 6GB |
* Customers on 24 months contract enjoy unlimited free calls to up to three M1 numbers.
SingTel and M1 offer plans that give SIM Only users a better deal. This could be explained by its value-added bundled services that provide additional talk time, or the fact that customers pay a lower fixed price for their iPhone 6s from the get-go.
StarHub seems to have found a sweet spot though. It offers a saving for customers choosing its 24-month contract. We think this is logical and should win it customers in the long run.
| StarHub
|
4G 4 | SIM Only Plan
(4G 4) |
| Price | $62.90 | $31.45 |
| Price X 24 months | $1,509.60 | $754.8.80 |
| Cost of iPhone 6s 16 GB | $229.00 | $1048.00 |
| Handset subsidy | $(819.00) | – |
| Effective cost | $690.60 | $754.80 |
| Plan details (for reference/comparison) | ||
| Outgoing talktime | 350 mins | 350 mins |
| SMS/MMS | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| Data | 4GB | 4GB |
Switch Up?
We think brand loyalty is extremely low in this field. Everyday, you will hear of complains against telco providers. Anyone seeing a better deal should, and probably would, move to the next telco provider. So StarHub’s strategy makes the most sense, it will see lower profit margins but this will be offset if they are able to attract more customers.
We think switching to StarHub’s plan makes sense. Even if you’re not intending to change your phone, you can buy the new phone and sell it off.
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