Aimed at giving consumers a new way to interact and consume telco services, new digital telco Circles.Life announced how they will be offering a new 4G mobile experience for the data savvy consumer segment in Singapore.
Using the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model, the company is infrastructure light as it has a leasing deal with fellow mobile operator M1. This is similar to the model Virgin Mobile had with Singtel when they entered the market in 2001.
An MVNO is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently.
An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing support systems, marketing, and sales personnel, which is what is being done by Circles.Life.
“Virgin Mobile was some time ago,” said Abhishek Gupta, co-founder and director, Circles.Life, “Rigid network technology in the past did not provide MVNOs flexibility in service offerings. They were not able to track data usage and customer buying patterns and found it difficult to respond to customer needs quickly. Our approach is unique because we take advantage of the latest technologies to build a next generation full service 4G digital mobile network.”
Gupta added that as an MVNO, the company can work towards highly efficient usage of their resources and prioritize innovation to deliver improved services and a richer experience to customers.
Rameez Ansar, co-founder of Circles.Life said that as an incentive to subscribers, the telco would also hand out periodic free boosts to their data plans determined by length of contract and other factors.
Using a digital platform they designed, Circles.Life will allow consumers to pick and choose the different bundles they want with their basic plan priced at S$28 a month that gets users 3GB of mobile data, 100 minutes of talktime, and bonus data that range from 0.5GB to 4GB when they use the firm's app or perform actions like referring friends to sign up.
The CirclesCare app also gives customers a personalised dashboard to allow them to tweak their plans such as top up mobile data or buy talk-time. These will be reflected in the next billing cycle, which follows the calendar month.
Users also get free caller number display, free roaming, and unlimited data on Whatsapp.
Circles.Life registration starts today and is offering new sign-ups bonuses like a low $4 registration fee, free SIM card, free delivery, and free number porting or 80 per cent off "lucky numbers".