S’pore telcos won’t feel pinch of mobile number portability churn rate
16 April 2008
No CommentS’pore telcos won’t feel pinch of mobile number portability churn rate
By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 16 April 2008 2120 hrs
SINGAPORE : Singapore telcos said they are ready and waiting to take on full number portability.
The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) announced on Wednesday that from June 13, all mobile phone users can keep their numbers when switching operators.
While some market watchers will be keen to see how many users actually make the switch, others said the market may see smaller players entering the fray.
According to the IDA, the churn rate was about 5-15% following a similar change in other countries in the region. However, analysts said the number will be much lower in Singapore.
“No, I don’t really expect a significant shift in the churn rates here in Singapore. I think… that penetration rates right now (are) really high at 100%, and the latest IDA statistics show over 120%, so I think we have a very saturated market…,” said Khoo Chen Hsung, Vice President of Research at CIMB GK.
The three players in the market – M1, StarHub and SingTel – have had a lead time of one year to gear up for the change.
During that period, they pumped more money into attracting new customers – by as much as 35% higher compared to the previous year. Acquisition costs in the last year went up by as much as 10% for SingTel and 35% for M1.
M1 Chief Executive Neil Montefiore is quoted as saying that the telco expects marketing costs to increase by 5-10% for a couple of months after the number portability kicks in.
But it is not all about higher costs. Under the change, there will be a centralised database, and according to the IDA, this could open new doors for businesses.
“Now, when consumers move from (one) service operator to (another) service operator, by working through the centralised database, they have full access to the entire market of consumers… So it has made it easier to access the entire 5.8 million users here in Singapore,” said Leong Keng Thai, Deputy Chief Executive, IDA.
Industry players said number portability will create opportunities for new and small businesses to work with big players, thus creating niche services such as Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) for consumers. – CNA /ls
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