WHEN the competition heats up, the rates come down.
A saturated cellphone market, number portability and just the need to stay above water are forcing telcos to load up on the sweeteners.
Sample these.
Share and share alike
Telcos are now offering supplementary lines that can be tagged on to a main line for just a little more.
M1 has SunShare ($12.84/month), StarHub has SharePlus ($10.70/month) and SingTel has RedPac ($10.70/month).
Typically, a supplementary line shares the bundled talk time and SMS quota of the main line.
With M1, each customer can tag on four supplementary lines; SingTel allows three and StarHub, two.
M1's plan also includes unlimited free calls between all the lines in the group, while SingTel offers free calls between the main line and the supplementary lines.
For those who text a lot, StarHub throws in 1,000 free SMS messages per linked line.
For students, NSmen
Some 1.1 billion text messages were sent here in July alone, many of them by younger users, surveys have found.
That's why the telcos are ramping up their plans for students 16 years and above.
StarHub and SingTel both offer unlimited free SMS with their student plans, while M1 offers an additional 500 SMS.
M1 and SingTel also offer a campus calling service: With it, students can call any local number for free within their campus.
Add a little more
Instead of bumping your plan up to the next level, go for add-ons, such as additional talk time and text messages to tag on to your basic plan.
SingTel's Talkmore plan charges $5.35 a month for an additional 200 minutes of talktime or 600 SMS messages to any mobile phone line.
Loyalty counts
All three telcos are offering discounts for those who sign up for more than one line or more than one service.
M1 will knock off up to 35 per cent of its mobile tarriff if you sign up for five lines.
For SingTel, a discounted mio Plan with a mio TV bundle for a promotional rate of $63.50 a month now ($71.50 after Friday) gets you broadband, fixed line, IPTV and a mobile subscription.
StarHub gives Hub Club discounts to those who sign up for all three of its services - broadband, cable TV and mobile. Shave from 15 per cent to 30 per cent off your mobile bills, depending on the number of phone lines subscribed.
This article was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life on Sep 10, 2008.
