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Tag: MyRepublic

  • Unlimited Data Plans For The Future?

    Unlimited Data Plans For The Future?

    Data is the new competition arena for telcos, as they strive to find new revenue streams, and consumers shift toward data-intensive applications.

    Analysts said one key area will be managing network and infrastructure costs while still providing a good user experience. As data consumption continues to increase, industry watchers said data analytics will be another growth area.

    MyRepublic has said it plans to set large data caps of 12 gigabytes or more, should it be awarded the fourth telco licence by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). If MyRepublic does that, some analysts have said this could put pressure on current pricing of tiered data plans, forcing the three major telcos M1, StarHub and Singtel to be more generous.

    While this may be good news for consumers, it could impact the margins for telcos and their investment in infrastructure.

    “With the potential of another operator coming to the market, the prices will go down and you might one day have unlimited packages,” said Mr Dustin Kehoe, programme director of AP Telecommunications at IDC Asia Pacific. “But you still have to ask the bigger question. If telcos are not making money, then they are not going to be investing in networks. And if they are not investing in any networks over time, the user experience will deteriorate.”

    Singtel, StarHub and M1 have spent millions of dollars on data infrastructure and improving mobile connectivity. This includes seeking ways to switch subscribers seamlessly to wireless broadband networks to relieve the load on their mobile network.

    Such solutions would improve the quality of the mobile network and potentially keep a rein on costs. The three telcos are already testing out solutions, most notably, in IDA’s heterogeneous network (HetNet) trial in Jurong Lake District.

    “The answer to this is offloading this to Wi-Fi – offloading the data to fixed line network,” explained Mr Sachin Mittal, vice president of equity research at DBS. “Mobile has only limited capacity and it causes congestion, unless you offload to the fixed line. You need to put incrementally more and more capex and that is something they won’t do for free. So Singtel came up with this Wi-Fi offloading solution where you get a couple of gigabytes if you use their mobile network and the Wi-Fi.”

    At the same time, growing data consumption provides more opportunities to grow revenue. Data analytics will continue to be an area of growth for telcos, especially if they can find creative insights and applications.

    “Getting into things like precision advertising. Knowing something about your customers and offer them something relevant, given the context of a situation, maybe passing by a retail store and having something offered to them that is relevant. Another thing, they are doing here in this country in particular, is the analytics of tourists,” said Mr Kehoe.

    “This is actually interesting information to pass on to retailers, to local governments for money, and that is another way to take data that you have on your network, anonymise it and monetise it,” he added.

    Both Singtel and StarHub have already established analytics teams in a bid to capture growth in the segment.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • MyRepublic Ups Ante, Offers Free Trial Of 1Gbps Plan

    MyRepublic Ups Ante, Offers Free Trial Of 1Gbps Plan

    Amid the price war in the high-speed fibre broadband market, three-year-old start-up MyRepublic has upped the ante by offering a free two-month trial of its 1Gbps plan, with no sign-up or cancellation fees.

    The Internet service provider (ISP) first made headlines last year by offering its 1Gbps plan at only S$50 a month — a move that prompted other ISPs to slash prices.

    MyRepublic chief executive Malcolm Rodrigues said yesterday the company is offering the free trial because it wants to accelerate the adoption of the 1Gbps speed band here.

    “Today, technology is interconnected. Having 5 per cent of the population on 1Gbps is good, but not good enough. We plan to push this further,” he said.

    Mr James Sullivan, head of APAC telecom research at J P Morgan, noted that such a strategy to gain customers may not necessarily require MyRepublic — which is in the midst of sourcing for funding for expansion — to have deep pockets.

    “If a carrier has a choice between giving free services (non-cash), versus straight equipment subsidies, which amounts to cash, they would prefer to give away services,” he said.

    At a press briefing yesterday, MyRepublic also spoke about its bid to become the fourth telco here. The company had said in June last year that it has ambitions of joining Singtel, StarHub and M1 as major telcos, and pledged to bring back unlimited mobile data plans if it succeeds in its bid.

    MyRepublic reiterated that it will bid for the 4G spectrum in an auction it expects the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) to call by the end of the year.

    Responding to media queries, IDA said no dates have been set aside for the next spectrum auction. It added that it is assessing the industry’s feedback regarding the proposed allocation of spectrum for mobile broadband services and options to enhance mobile competition. It will release its decision soon, IDA said.

    According to IDA’s website, a tranche of spectrum licences will be expiring on March 31, 2017. An auction will have to be carried out before these licenses expire. The country’s first 4G spectrum auction concluded in June 2013, without any new entrants to the market.

    A MyRepublic spokesman said the company, which was set up in 2012, did not take part in the inaugural auction because it was not ready then, as it was focused on building up its fibre broadband business.

    Mr Yap Yong Teck, MyRepublic’s managing director, said that should his company’s bid succeed this time, it is confident of eventually winning a market share of about 10 per cent. The company is in the midst of looking for Singaporean and foreign partners. Details of its funding model will be unveiled by the third quarter of this year, said Mr Yap.

    While many telcos around the world have stopped offering unlimited mobile data plans, Mr Yap was confident that MyRepublic could find a way to viably provide such offerings. “We will look to prioritise our traffic, so people will be able to use (the network) depending on the traffic or application they are using … their speed will slow down, but they will still get unlimited data, and their experience will be relatively still good,” he said.

    MyRepublic plans to offer its proposed unlimited data plans for around S$70 to S$80 a month.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com