PREPAID phone cards are getting increasingly popular here with sales going up at a phenomenal rate in recent months.
Industry experts told my paper that one possible draw is the ease with which families can control their mobile charges with prepaid cards - an attractive pull factor during these tough times.
Mr Alex Chau, senior research manager at IT research company IDC Asia Pacific, said the growth of prepaid mobile services here outstripped contract mobile services last year.
Prepaid services grew by 18 per cent last year while contract- based services grew by only 8 per cent.
Mr Chau said "cost control and reduction" is a reason for the switch.
"Prepaid service is ideal for families who wish to control their monthly phone expenses," he said.
As more people use their phones to access the Internet, and with the increasing ease of viewing large media files on mobile phones, it has become easy for users, especially teenagers, to "chalk up big phone bills".
"With prepaid services, however, users cannot access the network once all the credit on the card is used up," Mr Chau explained.
A check with telco giant Sing- Tel showed that the number of prepaid subscribers jumped by 76,000 to 1.42 million between July and September last year.
Between last October and December, it rose by another 38,000 to 1.46 million.
SingTel said the rise is due to its introduction of many "attractive service offerings" that cater specifically to the needs of prepaid subscribers, who want "convenient" services.
"We constantly review and ensure that our service and value offerings remain attractive and affordable, to meet the needs of all our prepaid mobile customers," said a SingTel spokesman.
M1 has also seen an increase in prepaid subscribers, from 679,000 in 2007 to 748,000 last year. StarHub reported a 1.14 per cent increase to 874,000 from the end of last September to December.
