SINGAPORE—SingTel Mobile has halved talk time from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to US$0.05, making it the first operator in Singapore to offer such a discount. This could start a new price war with rivals MobileOne (M1) and StarHub.
Competing carriers said the offer should apply to all mobile-phone users including their customers. This contention was supported by telecom regulator Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), which said the rates should apply to all mobile-phone users. An IDA spokesperson pointed out that a standing policy does not allow inter-operator and intra-operator network pricing differences for end users. IDA is reviewing the situation.
Meanwhile, SingTel’s scheme applies across its postpaid and subscription plans to incoming and outgoing calls. Off-peak rates have been halved too. For some plans, calls made on Sunday or public holidays are slashed from US$0.05 a minute to US$0.025 a minute.
M1 said that SingTel’s scheme discriminated against non-SingTel customers. StarHub introduced a plan last month that restricts free incoming calls to those made between its customers only.
