"More choices, better services, and cheaper prices—that just about sums up how satisfied users of handphones and pagers feel since competition was introduced in Singapore on 1 April 1997." These were some of the findings of a mobile phone and paging services survey which was conducted between December 1997 and February this year and reported in a trend-setter newsletter VISTAS brought about by Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS), the national policy maker, regulator, and promoter of telecommunications and post in Singapore.

The survey was based on a total of 1,000 face-to-face interviews conducted with mobile phone users of both SingTel Mobile and MobileOne (M1), on their level of satisfaction with quality, pricing and range of mobile phone support services/applications in the market. The survey was also aimed at assessing users’ awareness of TAS.

Results of Singapore Mobile Survey

About half the users said mobile-to-land calls were set up within five seconds. There was also a great improvement in curbing the number of dropped calls, with 80 percent of users reporting that they did not have any bad experiences of dropped calls.

About two in three respondents felt that tariffs were reasonable or not expensive. However, local airtime charges are still deemed as expensive by respondents.

SingTel Mobile and M1 have introduced a wide range of value-added services to attract subscribers. Apart from overseas roaming, other services include voice mail, fax mail, speech dialing, Short Messaging Service (SMS), conference calls, a stock alert service, and numerous innovative pricing plans. SingTel Mobile has introduced SpeechDial, where voice recognition technology is used to make a call; Single Number Service which provides subscribers with just one contact number in place of various telephone, handphone, and fax numbers; and InforDial information service. SingTel Mobile now has roaming in 66 countries through over 100 operators. M1 covers 54 countries.

Services such as call waiting, call transfer, call baring, and voicemail were the most commonly used value-added services, and nearly three-quarters of respondents found the product offerings useful.

Both mobile phone operators fared well in terms of billing services, in areas such as accuracy, clarity of information, and ease of understanding.

There was a high level of awareness about the role of TAS in introducing competition in the mobile phone market, with 81 percent of mobile phone users being aware that TAS was responsible for market liberalization.

As equipment and service prices come down, mobile phones (and pagers) are attracting a wider audience beyond mainstream business users. That, in turn, is leading to more aesthetic designs, and the emergence of customized "lifestyle" mobile phones, designed to project a trendy image.

"Subscribers are getting younger," said Neil Montefiore, M1’s CEO in VISTAS. "The mobile phone is also increasingly being used socially rather than for business only. Saturation point for mobile phones is probably about 50 percent and the market has some way to go," he said. (The paging market is also expected to approach
saturation point over the next 12 to 18 months with a market penetration rate of 50-60 percent.)

Features and functionality are important, say manufacturers, but so are design and image. So while new GSM phones can offer up to eight hours talk time, plus calendars, diaries, alarm clocks and schedulers, and SMS, some models come with colour-changing panels to match your clothes, or hardware to fit the shape of your face, and software to match your lifestyle profile. Others look to clamshell designs, hands-free in-car operation, dual batteries and optional directional micro-phones, and the direction is towards lighter and smaller phones—anywhere from 100 to 200 grams.

Comments from some of the other important players: "Increasingly, consumers are becoming more style and fashion conscious. Their purchase decision is based on personal taste and preferences, including the colour, design, and shape elements. Replacement market or second time buyers, for instance, are more aware of the mobile phone as a personal item, an extension of their personalities. They tend to expect phones which are personalized to their needs in all aspects—technology, features, and design."

"A mobile phone is a personal consumer product with emotional attachments. Aesthetic appeal through colour and design plays a large part in the consumer’s purchase and usage decision. Performance and reliability are more important consumer considerations than phone features and functionality."

Determined to Make Success of Liberalization

For TAS, the dramatic rise in mobile communication penetration rates underscores the success of the liberalization of the market last year, and points encouragingly towards an even more open future.

As Singapore becomes the first country to approach the present enviable saturation barrier of 50 percent, this experience will be worth watching closely at least by the Indian metro operators.

Liberalization has reaped benefits not only for the new competitor which has been very successful but also, SingTel has received benefits and growth, by becoming more competitive and therefore being able to compete in regional markets.

Regulator and Market Promotion

Going by the enthusiasm with which Indian market—the operators as well as their distribution channels—has received the new TRAI mobile tariff proposals indicate how much the market looks up to the Regulator for its catalytic role in the market promotion—more so as the mobile becomes more of a productivity and security tool.