Singapore's fourth mobile operator launches with plans for the data-hungry

SINGAPORE -- It's been 14 years since Singapore saw a new mobile operator try to break into the three-ring circle of telecom companies here, but we now have a fourth choice for smartphone plans.

On Thursday, a new operator called Circles.Life launched. Unlike the three telcos we have now, SingTel, Starhub and M1, Circles.Life is an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator), and doesn't own network infrastructure outright. Instead, it leases network capacity from the smallest telco on the island, M1.

Because Circles.Life hadn't had to deal with the costly and lengthy process of building out network infrastructure, it's burst onto the market promising to undercut the competition -- likely a very attractive proposition for the data-hungry crowd.

Here's some math. Base plans on Circles.Life go for S$28 ($20.50) a month, with 3Gb of data and 100 calling minutes, with the option to add more data, calling minutes or SMS messages.

On the other hand, a 3Gb plan from Singtel with 300 minutes talktime is priced at S$62.90 ($46) a month. Creating something similar with Circles.Life would cost S$38 ($28).

But comparing the new MVNO and existing telco plans isn't quite as simple as that. The telco plans cost more on paper, but they do because the telco has offered a costly handset at a subsidy at the start -- which the user pays off slowly over the typical two-year contract period.

Circles.Life isn't offering handset subsidies, but it's offering installment plans for phones instead, which could help convince users accustomed to not paying a lump sum for a phone to hop over.

Virgin Mobile's failed MVNO hopes

Singapore's first MVNO, Virgin Mobile closed in 2002 after just nine months. It was leasing network capacity from Singapore's largest telco, Singtel. It attracted only 30,000 subscribers and failed to meet its targets, which analysts attributed to customer inertia and tight competition from existing telcos in the small country.

To put Virgin's subscriber numbers in perspective, Singtel had 1.4 million subscribers at the time, and the other two telcos, M1 and StarHub, had 900,000 and 300,000, respectively.

You could argue, however, that 14 years is a long time ago -- especially where technology is concerned -- and Circles.Life is entering a very different landscape today. Virgin Mobile was trying to compete in a market that didn't yet have smartphones, so it was dangling call minutes and SMS messages to a user base that didn't feel the hassle of switching was worth a slight discount.

People would gladly give up SMS or call time for more data.

But Circles.Life has a third commodity, data, that it can use to allow people to make monthly plans that suit them better.

Most of the telcos offer rigid plans that pack high volumes of call minutes and SMS messages with big data allowances. But since SMS usage is plummeting, and more people rely on data-based messaging like Whatsapp or iMessage, there's a growing segment of people who would gladly give up SMS or call time in exchange for more data.

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Also, mobile penetration in the island state in 2002 was 73%. Today, it's over 148%, which means people carry more than one phone on average, so there's more appetite for a fourth operator.

Circles.Life is part of a Singapore-based company called Liberty Wireless -- not to be confused with the Liberty Wireless in the U.S. -- and has plans to expand to neighbouring countries in Southeast Asia after its local launch.

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