New S’pore Telco, Grid Mobile, Targets Millennials with 20GB for $24.90

Rejoice, data consumers… and despair, existing mobile operators. There’s a new telco in town and from the looks of it…

They’re here to get a lucrative share of that data pie.

New S’pore Telco, Grid Mobile, Targets Millennials with 20GB for $24.90

The latest entrant, Grid Mobile, is the sixth Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Singapore and is owned by telecommunications walkie-talkie network operator Grid Communications.

According to The New Paper, Grid Mobile’s aimed at Millenials and offers additional mobile data and no-contract plans.

Sounds like a millennial thing to me, alright.

No strings attached

In an interview with The New Paper, the senior director and MVNO lead of Grid Mobile, Mr Mohamad Rizal, expressed his thoughts on the current mobile plan industry.

“Millennials no longer want to be bound by mobile line contracts or worry about exceeding their mobile data limits.

“But even with the recent abundance in mobile plan options, we realised there is still one major missing piece – how to integrate mobile plans into a consumer’s actual lifestyle and make it both useful and fun for the millennial consumer.”

And this, apparently, is where Grid Mobile breaks from the mould. With Grid Mobile, consumers will be able to earn gridPoints on their birthdays and when they refer their friends to sign up for the mobile line, while on the plan.

According to TNP, the points can be utilised to offset mobile bills, get cashback or offers from several merchants. A monthly plan of $24.90 includes 20GB of data and talk time, among others, alongside 1GB of data roaming in Malaysia and a buddy SIM card with 1GB of data, talk time and text messages.

A spokesman for Grid Mobile has also said that it will be running on a “leading telco network”, but declines to reveal its identity due to contractual agreements.

Competitive slice of the pie

Grid Mobile’s entry comes just after M1 announced its latest move, the decision to launch SIM-only, handset base plans starting from S$25 for 30GB of data.

The SIM-only no-contract base plan starts from S$25 for 30GB of data, while the handset base plan starts from a S$30 contract for 12GB of data. Both plans come with unlimited data on weekends and unlimited music streaming on Spotify.

In addition to the handset base plan, customers can also go for plan add-ons, which range from S$20 for additional 5GB of data and 100 minutes of talk time, to S$205 for additional 100GB of data and unlimited talk time.

The price of the device will vary according to the choice of plan add-on.

Meanwhile, mobile operator Circles.Life has introduced a new base plan that offers 20GB of data, alongside 100 mins of talk time, 25 free SMSes and a free caller ID, for just $18.

Consumer galore

For too long, Singaporeans caved in under the ginormous financial pressures of the big 3: Singtel, M1 and Starhub. Then Circles.Life came along, and all of a sudden telcos weren’t the priority.

The consumers are the priority. 

With 5G networks due to roll out in 2020, and Grid Mobile being the sixth Mobile Virtual Network Operator to join in on the fray, one can’t help but think:

Is data still the money-sucking demon of the past…

Or are we, finally, enjoying all the perks without the clingy, toxic attachments of the past?

Well, judging by how things are going…

I would say it’s more of the latter than the former. 😉