Competition in Singapore’s mobile sector is heating up faster than expected; this after Circles.Life announced that it will be launching its services as a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) as early as this week. Through a leasing agreement with M1, we understand that Circles.Life intends to woo consumers with flexible data plans.

From its website, some of the key selling points include bonus data, user customizable plans, limitless data and no long contracts, among others. Circles.Life is able to steal the march on potential new entrants like MyRepublic and Consistel by “piggy-backing” its services on the existing M1 network, instead of having to bid for spectrum licenses and roll out its own physical network.

And M1 benefits from this arrangement as Circles.Life’s customers will be counted as part of M1’s customer base; M1 also collects fees for the use of its infrastructure. Hence the impact is not as great on M1 versus the other two telcos.

Nevertheless, we could still see a possible price war breaking out after Circles.Life releases more details about its plans. For now, we have an OVERWEIGHT on the sector; but will be watching this development very closely.

Source: OCBC Research - 5 May 2016