SingTel to slash local data bundles from July

[Confuseous]

SINGAPORE: SingTel will be slashing local data bundles for all its new and recontracting 3G and 4G mobile subscribers from July.

All subscribers currently enjoy a blanket offer of 12 gigabytes (GB) for all SingTel's data plans except for its Flexi Premium Plan which offers 30GB.

Apart from its premium plan, the telco will be reducing data bundles to between two GB to four GB. Additional data will be charged S$5.35 per additional GB.

In return, SingTel said it will offer more generous SMS bundles and higher data speeds.

Prices for the telco's subscription plans remain unchanged.

Based on current usage patterns, SingTel said 90 per cent of subscribers should not incur higher charges, as their data consumption does not exceed the new bundles.

Meanwhile, SingTel will be offering Singapore's first 4G services for consumer smartphones this July.

This will be offered to consumers when they purchase a 4G-enabled handset with a SingTel 4G plan.

The first 4G-enabled smartphones available in Singapore are HTC One XL, LG Optimus LTE and Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE.

SingTel expects its 4G network to be fully rolled out throughout Singapore in early 2013.

- CNA/fa

 

[HTOLAS]

Scam. 90% do not exceed the new bundles NOW. In a very short time, ST will structure it such that they will. ST has since last year complained that services like Whatsapp have eaten into their profits because they bypass ST's chargeable sms services, and instead use their hitherto unlimited data plans.

By allowing ST to behave this way, IDA will retard Singapore's development in web usage for the sake of their master's profit.

 

[Cestbon]

Many will have no choice to pay because they will get use to it. Speed faster meaning data coming in faster more will watch movie.

 

[I_Hate_Pappies]

Many will have no choice to pay because they will get use to it. Speed faster meaning data coming in faster more will watch movie.

"Many will have no choice to pay because they will get use to it." Agree!

"Speed faster meaning data coming in faster more will watch movie." I cannot agree not.

 

[Conqueror]

Speed are much slower if you use a mobile bb. I almost give up on mobile bb - very slow downloading.


Mobile broadband satisfaction in S'pore ranked lowest

November 30, 2010


Singapore ranks the lowest, alongside the U.K., in terms of Quality of Experience (QoE) in a new mobile broadband usage survey.

Commissioned by Acision, a mobile data service provider, the findings come "as a total surprise", according to Steven van Zanen, senior vice president for marketing. He explained that the city-state was chosen as the only Asian country in a five-nation lineup for the survey, in part for its broadband penetration rate and government Wi-Fi initiatives, such as Wireless@SG.

Other countries that took part in the survey are the U.S., Brazil and Australia.

Among the 1,000 mobile broadband users surveyed in Singapore, 83 percent of users polled faced QoE issues, with 68 percent of respondents indicating slow speeds, 42 percent having problems with network coverage, and 38 percent unable to connect at times.

"Slow speeds were also seen as the reason for subscribers cancelling contracts and switching carriers, with operators potentially facing a churn rate of 31 percent," indicated the press release.

"80 percent of Singaporeans [surveyed] did not know that a small number of users could jam up broadband traffic, thus causing slow connection for the rest," van Zanen said in a press briefing with ZDNet Asia. "Once we clarified this to them, there's actually a high acceptance of fairness, and in fact, demands that operators do something about ensuring good speed connection for all."

Another bugbear of mobile broadband usage is the slow loading time of videos. Of the 45 percent respondents who watched videos regularly when connected to mobile broadband, 80 percent indicated issues such as frequent pausing and waiting.

"This shouldn't be the case at all," van Zanen commented. "Users should be able demand that operators give them the promised speed they purchased." This also relates to survey findings that 43 percent of consumers are willing to pay premium rates for improved QoE, with more than half keen to adopt value-added services (VAS) as part of their mobile broadband plan, he added.

"Operators can speed up video loading speed by compressing videos and photos, and this can be done as VAS and consumers can be charged a premium for this, say, 10 to 20 percent more, for a 40 percent improvement in broadband usage," explained the marketing expert.

Arie Baak, director of product marketing, said research has indicated there is a market for such services. "It's about the operator taking charge of the QoE even though some governments are trying to block broadband providers from doing so."

To give customers a better surfing experience, Acision revealed that operators merely have to put in an average of 20 percent more resources compared with the investment on core and radio network that they had already done. Operators can then set policies on optimizing content, ensuring good traffic flow, and giving consumers the option of purchasing a "gold video" package, which allows them superb surfing experience. But at the same time, they can still offer price-sensitive customers basic speed packages.

"This gives them transparency and visibility in their offerings," van Zanen said. "By separating bandwidth required for video streaming, it gives both groups of consumers good broadband speed. It's a win-win situation for all."

He added that the research will give operators reason to move ahead with segmentation of the mobile broadband market. One European carrier has already indicated its decision to move away from the competition of broadband speed, and instead focus on user experience.

The company also revealed that it is in talks with major operators around the world to push forward the service, including the three mobile broadband providers in the city-state, SingTel, StarHub and M1.

 

[HTOLAS]

So in the grand PAPzi tradition, the telcos raise prices to dampen demand!

Speed are much slower if you use a mobile bb. I almost give up on mobile bb - very slow downloading.
Mobile broadband satisfaction in S'pore ranked lowest

November 30, 2010

Singapore ranks the lowest, alongside the U.K., in terms of Quality of Experience (QoE) in a new mobile broadband usage survey.

 

[besotted]

Singapore mobile speed is slower than Vietnam or Indonesia.

Better hope China Mobile buys out Singtel and raise standards

 

[garlic]

‎"According to SingTel, 10 per cent of its subscribers are now consuming 64 per cent of mobile data, preventing the majority from enjoying the full benefits of its network."

This really takes the icing of the cake.... blaming customers who pay to use their service for their network overload.

 

[bryanlim1972]

‎"According to SingTel, 10 per cent of its subscribers are now consuming 64 per cent of mobile data, preventing the majority from enjoying the full benefits of its network."

This really takes the icing of the cake.... blaming customers who pay to use their service for their network overload.

nope, they are blaming themselves for having given out too much free data. what they are doing will benefit the 90% like me.

 

[garlic]

nope, they are blaming themselves for having given out too much free data. what they are doing will benefit the 90% like me.

Singapore small island of only 5m population, ST mobile with 3.16m subscribers (wiki)

10% of 3.16m = 316k
316k = 64% of mobile data???? Numbers simply do not add up.

They should seriously ramp up their network capacity OR think of a better excuse to cut data bundle.

 

[HTOLAS]

What the PAPzis are hoping is that this will slow down the negative information flow against them, especially at big events like opposition rallies, and small events, like PAPzi rallies.

 

[Cestbon]

Singapore small island of only 5m population, ST mobile with 3.16m subscribers (wiki)

10% of 3.16m = 316k
316k = 64% of mobile data???? Numbers simply do not add up.

They should seriously ramp up their network capacity OR think of a better excuse to cut data bundle.

10% mobile data SingTel customer using total 64% bandwidth. The other 90% using only 36%.