Last Updated on 2019-12-13 , 9:30 am
Is your data package enough for you? How much mobile data do you use? How expensive is it?
Oftentimes, we find ourselves paying exorbitant amounts for our mobile data and our monthly plans.
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It has become almost impossible to not stream Spotify, scroll through Instagram or even stream a video when you are commuting or outside a wifi spot.
Due to this demand, the monopoly of the established telcos has been able to push prices up.
That was until several companies tried to break the mould and compete against these titans.
Several companies tried to drastically undercut the prices offered by these giant telcos, most notably Circles.Life which offered unlimited data for a significantly lower cost (the relentless advertisements certainly helped).
So far, these competitive firms have helped to make the established telcos in Singapore improve in their offerings to customers.
One of these underdogs is virtual telco Zero Mobile.
Haven’t heard of it before? It’s okay, you’re not alone.
But anyways, Zero Mobile has suddenly announced that they will halt all services in Singapore for the time being, citing several issues.
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Underdog Goes Under
Zero Mobile claims that due to an extremely competitive market and poor payment by its customers, the Zero Xs and the more expensive Zero X plans will be discontinued.
The Singapore telecom industry is becoming increasingly crowded. Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) have entered leasing agreements with established telcos, using the incumbents’ excess capacity for their own networks.
There are currently more than ten telcos in Singapore.
Wait, so many? And I thought it’s just Circles.Line and those big telcos.
There are several reasons as to why Zero has struggled so badly.
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Zero claims that there were dirty plays made by its competitors to undermine the company.
It is claimed that there were several “fake applications” for services made and thereafter informed regulators that Zero was a scam and asked to remove it.
It is also alleged that several “fake reviews” of the services were made on social media.
They did not provide evidence to back up those claims nor name any competitors.
In the business world, it’s a dog-eat-dog world, indeed.
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Another significant problem that Zero faced were customers defaulting on their payment plans.
A hefty thirty percent of all revenue in the past two years were not collected due to defaults.
It’s unknown how customers could default payment to such an extent, given that our lines are cut off fast enough once we didn’t pay our telco bills #truestory
A Fresh Start
Zero is not out of the game yet. It intends to roll out new plans with new pricing to reengage in this competitive market.
Zero intends to improve its technology stack (a set of technologies that allow a platform to function properly), due to several complaints about billing issues.
CEO Glenn Mohammed said that Zero will not give in.
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To add on, it was mentioned that Zero was founded without venture capital, and instead with the combined savings of one Singaporean, two Australians and one New Zealander.
Not sure why that must be mentioned. Pretty sure it’s not to tell the world that other companies can survive because they had investors.
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