iPhone Price Plans Comparison - SINGTEL M1 STARHUB

Price Plans Information:
SINGTEL: www.singtel.com.sg/iphone
M1: www.m1.com.sg/iphone
STARHUB: www.starhub.com/iphone

Update - As of 8th December 2009, SingTel has announced its revised rates for its iPhone plans. Our analysis has been updated to reflect SingTel's updated iFlexi plans. StarHub has also matched SingTel's $30 data cap offer, followed by M1 which increased its data bundle to 12GB and introducing the $30 data cap.

A few weeks ago, both StarHub and M1 have made official announcements that the iPhone will be available to both carriers by the end of 2009. A quick check on the pre-order site on Sunday revealed that registration has been closed for both companies, indicating the imminent arrival of the price plans.

Surely, Starhub launched its price plans on Monday morning, revealing new price plans that goes hand-in-hand with their iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. Shortly after, M1 also revealed its iPhone price plans and by 8th December 2009, SingTel announced its price plan revision.

With all three telcos' price plans set in stone, it's time to analyze the offerings from each of them. We start by checking out the pricing of the iPhone, seeing as that is what consumers are getting all excited about in the first place.


For the purpose of this article, we'll be looking at the most basic and high-end plans as a comparison. For the full comparison, check out our round-up of the iPhone price plans for a quick gauge.

The following information was correct as of 7th December 2009

With similar offerings of talk time and bundled SMS amongst StarHub and SingTel, the former is pricing the iPhone slightly cheaper at $10, $20 and $30 as you go up the price plan ladder. On the extreme end, the StarHub SmartSurf Unlimited gives you 2000 minutes of talk time and SMS, which is approximately 33% more than what you get on SingTel for a free iPhone 3G or 3GS.

M1's offering, which was announced later in the day, trounced the other two telcos' offerings with an even lower price point for its monthly subscription and iPhone pricing. As you can see from the comparison for its entry-level plans, M1's iPhone Value plan comes in at the most affordable $36, with the iPhone 3GS priced at $658. Looking at the highest-end plan, both M1 and StarHub gained the upper hand with an unlimited data bundle against SingTel's 3GB limit. Furthermore, M1 comes with unlimited outgoing talk time and SMS, making it the clear winner amongst the three telcos for now.

The following information has been updated as of 8th December 2009

As of now, SingTel has countered and matched both StarHub and M1's offer. For its bundled data, SingTel has increased it to 12GB, and introduces the lowest data cap rate at $30. Unfortunately, the telco has not budged and isn't introducing unlimited data usage for its highest level plan, unlike M1 and StarHub's offer.

On the highest iFlexi Premium plan, SingTel has matched up to StarHub's offer of 2000 minutes of talktime and SMS.

Furthermore, SingTel has also matched the prices of its iPhone to M1's offering, and for its iPhone 3G 8GB on the lowest end plan, it'll be $10 cheaper than M1's offer of $398 for the iPhone.

To quantify it in numbers, let's take a look at the total cost of the iPhone 3GS 32GB, should you opt for the cheapest plan over the next 24 months:-
M1 - ($36 x 24) + $658 = $1522
StarHub - ($38 x 24) + $668 = $1580
SingTel - ($39 x 24) + $658 = $1594

Without a doubt, on a 24 months outlook, M1's iPhone offering would still be the cheapest of the lot, followed by StarHub and then SingTel. But if you're a heavy outgoing caller, there are considerations to take note of, and you might do better with the mid-range plans that costs no more than $60 on all three telcos.

Note that these calculations are based on the fact that you won't be exceeding the data limit. With SingTel announcing its revised bundled data and data cap, there is a paradigm shift in the data costing, which we'll analyse in the next page.


Adopted from:
http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/articles/view.php?cid=24&id=3088

PRESS RELEASE: M1 to bring iPhone 3GS to Singapore on 9 December

SINGAPORE, 7 December 2009 - M1 today announced that it will launch iPhone 3GS in Singapore on 9 December 2009. M1 will offer a range of new 3G tariff plans tailored for iPhone customers, including iPhone at no upfront cost on the Take3 programme and monthly subscriptions as low as $36 on the iPhone Value plan.

iPhone 3GS is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including improved speed and performance - up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G - with longer battery life, a high quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording and hands free voice control. iPhone 3GS includes iPhone OS 3.1, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard and more.

“Using iPhone 3GS on Singapore’s most advanced network will allow our customers to maximize their use and enjoyment of iPhone's features," said Ms. Karen Kooi, Chief Executive Officer, M1. "We are excited to bring iPhone to our customers and are offering a generous free data bundle with a minimum of 10GB, giving customers the peace of mind to surf the Internet and download apps from the thousands available on the App Store."

Customers on M1’s iPhone plans will also enjoy M1’s unique call benefits of unlimited free calls to three M1 numbers, per-second billing and discounts of up to 35 percent on subscription fees with the Multi-line Saver programme.

M1 will celebrate the iPhone launch at 12am at Paragon and Westmall shops on 9
December. At launch, iPhone will be available at twelve M1 shops and six dealer shops throughout Singapore.

For more details on price plans, visit www.m1.com.sg/iphone

PRESS RELEASE: StarHub To Offer iPhone On December 9

The following is a press release from StarHub Ltd. (CC3.SG):
Singapore, December 7, 2009 - StarHub today announced that it will launch iPhone in Singapore on December 9. StarHub will offer a range of new 3G mobile plans to meet the different needs of iPhone customers for voice, SMS and data usage. iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G will be available for free on the 3G SmartSurf Unlimited plan with a two-year contract.

iPhone 3GS is the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including improved speed and performance - up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G - with longer battery life, a high-quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy to use video recording and hands free voice control. The groundbreaking App Store provides access to more than 100,000 applications from games to social networking to financial planning and health management, generating more than 2 billion downloads to date. iPhone is now available in over 80 countries around the world.
"We are delighted to bring iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS to our customers in Singapore.

With powerful features and thousands of exciting applications, iPhone is a perfect match for StarHub's superior nationwide mobile broadband network," said Mr. Chan Kin Hung, Head of Products and Solutions, StarHub. "With our great mobile data plans, iPhone users are able to do more with the mobile Internet, such as blog, access emails, download music, connect to social networks, stream video and surf, without worrying about data charges."

StarHub's HSPA+ mobile broadband network delivers mobile broadband speeds of up to 21Mbps nationwide, offering iPhone customers the best experience in mobile Internet access in Singapore.

At StarHub's launch of iPhone, four new 3G SmartSurf price plans will be introduced. All plans will come with StarHub's iconic mobile features including unlimited free incoming voice calls, per-second billing,100 free SMS with GIRO bill payment and free StarHub IDD 018 calls to 18 destinations for $5 monthly. In addition, local data usage charges are capped at $48 monthly so mobile users have greater peace of mind when they go online on their iPhone.

Starting December 9, 2009, customers who have pre-registered for iPhone will be given priority access for a limited time to purchase iPhone with a StarHub two-year price plan. Further information on pre-registration as well as StarHub's launch details can be found at http://www.starhub.com/.

For more details on price plans, visit www.starhub.com/iphone