I am pretty disappointed with this announcement actually. Instead of fixing the problem, they chose to cap everybody. Instead of fixing the overloaded base station, they chose to spend S$12 million to buy hungrygowhere.
Unveils new tiered 3G and 4G plans to ensure high-quality, consistent experience
Singapore 4 June 2012 – Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) today announced the launch of Singapore’s first 4G service for consumer smartphone users. SingTel is also introducing new Flexi and iFlexi plans with tiered data bundles from 1 July 2012 to ensure a high-quality and consistent mobile broadband experience for all subscribers.
Singapore’s first 4G smartphone service
From 5 June 2012, customers who purchase a 4G-enabled handset with a SingTel Flexi and iFlexi plan can enjoy the 4G service. Three handsets will be available at launch: HTC One XL, LG Optimus LTE and Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE.
SingTel’s 4G service will provide mobile Internet access that is up to five times faster than existing 3G-based smartphone services, with one-fifth of the network latency. Users can enjoy theoretical download speeds of up to 75Mbps and typical download speeds between 3.4Mbps and 12Mbps. SingTel will also introduce its Priority Pass traffic priority feature for the 4G service next year. This will provide subscribers with priority for their data traffic when the network is loaded, thus ensuring smoother streaming and downloads.
Islandwide rollout of SingTel’s 4G network is expected to be completed in early 2013. In areas where 4G has not yet been deployed, users will enjoy 3G connectivity with download speeds of up to 42Mbps.
Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, SingTel’s CEO Consumer Singapore, said: “SingTel is excited to be the first to introduce Singapore consumers to the next generation of mobile services. We are pleased to offer it at the same price as existing 3G services. Increasingly, smartphone users are seeking higher speeds and more consistent performance for their digital lifestyle needs. 4G will enable our customers to enjoy bandwidth-hungry applications, such as multimedia streaming, games, cloud storage and video conferencing, on the move like never before.”
New tiered data plans for 3G and 4G users
SingTel’s new Flexi and iFlexi plans for 3G and 4G customers will offer data bundles ranging from 2GB to 12GB, as well as significantly more generous SMS bundles and higher data speeds. Charges for data usage beyond bundled allowances have been revised to $5.35 per gigabyte, which is approximately 500 times more affordable than the previous rate of $2.76 per megabyte. Approximately 10 per cent of SingTel’s subscribers who are heavy SMS users will save from the new improved SMS bundles. The plans will be available to all new and re-contracting customers from 1 July 2012, and will replace existing 3G Flexi and iFlexi plans.
Mr Yuen said: “We need to break away from the traditional one-size-fits-all approach, which is not sustainable in the long term. Today, 64 per cent of mobile data on our network is consumed by 10 per cent of our subscribers. This prevents the remaining 90 per cent from enjoying the full benefits of the network. With our tiered pricing model, subscribers will pay for what they use, and this ultimately allows us to keep prices for our plans the same over time despite rising network costs.”
Mr Yuen noted that based on current usage patterns, 90 per cent of subscribers should not incur higher charges, as their data consumption does not exceed the new bundles.
“At the same time, heavy users will benefit from the significantly reduced excess usage rates. Data traffic on our mobile networks has been growing at 62 percent each year since 2010 due to the tremendous growth of smartphones, tablets and mobile content. By encouraging fair usage of the network, we will be able to deliver consistently high-quality services for our customers,” he said.
