We found out that DiGi has just revised their DG50 postpaid plan which strives to give more value to its subscribers. When we look at it, it doesn’t look much different from the original DG50 launched nearly 2 years ago. The rates are still the same and even the billing block cycle is still 30 seconds.

Postpaid rates has been pretty stagnant lately and old fashion price war is not heading anywhere. So what’s new with DiGi postpaid? If they can’t cut the rates, they give further discounts depending on your total bill spend.

So does this translate to big savings? Well, Yes and No.

Call rates for DG50 are the same 13 sen/minute for voice calls, 10 sen/SMS and 20 sen/MMS to all networks. What’s different now is that DiGi is giving discounts based on your total usage which is 25% off when you spend RM75 and RM50% off when you spend RM150 and above.

On top of that, 50% discount is given for Friends & Family calls & Internet Data usage during Happy Hours.

So, the new DG50 is heavily banging on the 50% off your bill every month (after usage of RM150) and also 50% off for Happy Hour calls and Internet.

Before you get excited, the 50% off your bills is very misleading. A quick check on their FAQ reveals the following:

7. Will I enjoy any discounts for calls and SMS to other networks made after RM75 or RM150?

No, the discount is only applicable for additional DiGi to DiGi calls / SMS made after RM75 or RM150.

So not only the discount is applicable to calls made AFTER reaching RM75 or RM150,  but it is strictly for calls and SMS to DiGi numbers only. Therefore there’s no way you can slash up to 50% your actual bill since the discount is applicable for usage AFTER hitting the selected spending range, not the entire bill.  Plus, a normal user would obviously make non-DiGi calls and SMS which is not going to be applicable for discount.

On the Happy Hour period, DiGi is only giving it between 4PM-6PM daily. Who talks to their friends and family during 4PM-6PM? Isn’t most people busy at work during that time? I don’t know about you but that’s certainly no time to chat with your buddies or family members, unless of course DiGi encourages such practice at the work place.

Another thing we noticed is that DiGi’s FAQ has a mistake on the Happy Hour section.

On the comparison of the new and old DG50, it shows that the Data discount is only applicable for the OLD DG50 instead of the new, which is obviously reversed.

Conclusion, DG50 is nothing to shout about and the discounted cost savings is nothing but a gimmick disguised with a bold claim of slashing your bill into half. Not forgetting their Happy Hour which isn’t sincerely done with customers in mind. In a nutshell, this is nothing but a cheap rehash of existing postpaid plan.

“We are grateful that consumers have much confidence with U Mobile in a short time span. This is an achievement that we are all very happy with and we have our customers to thank for this. This achievement is also testament to the appeal of per-second billing to our customers who are looking at more and more ways in which they can save especially during times of rising cost,” said Mr. Oh Kwang-Jin, Chief Executive Office of U Mobile Sdn Bhd.

The Korean Factor?
It was reported before by The Edge that:

KTF, which is named in the Guiness Book of Records for having acquired the most number of subscribers in the shortest span of time.

Considering that U Mobile’s management is under the eyes of a Korean CEO from Korea Telecom Freetel (KTF), we may see some aggressive Korean strategies at U Mobile to acquire more subscribers.

Overall this looks like a good start for U Mobile despite early teething issues of a new telco. One of the contributor factors would be its free starter packs which is seen as an easy uptake strategy. Let’s wait and see if they could sustain their customers towards MNP.

“We all love different things, but we all love savings…”

English Version:

Bahasa Malaysia Version:

Mandarin Version:

In case you’re wondering, the music in the background is “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers. He is also the same guy who sang “Just the two of us”.

Along with their U Mobile 018 Prepaid, U Mobile has introduced 3 new postpaid plans earlier this month, namely U38, U68 & U98. U38 is not an entirely new product as it was launched several months earlier as U Mobile’s first postpaid commercial offering in April.

Since U Mobile is pushing on their per second billing, U38 was revised from having 15 seconds block to 1 second block and reduced their off net rate slightly from 28 sen/minute to 24 sen/minute (0.4 sen/sec).

The postpaid plans are as follows:

U38 Postpaid

• 12,000 free calls (based on 1sec/call)
• 0.3 sen/sec (18 sen/minute) for on-net voice/video calls (same network)
• 0.4 sen/sec (24 sen/minute) for off-net voice/video calls (others)
• 5 sen/SMS for on-net and 15 sen/SMS for off-net
• 18 sen/MMS for on-net and 28 sen/MMS for off-net
• Voicemail at 18 sen/call
• Videomail at 0.3 sen/sec
• FREE 2 months data usage
• RM38 monthly commitment fee

U68 Postpaid

• 34,000 free calls (based on 1 sec/call)
  
• 0.2 sen/sec (12 sen/minute) for voice/video calls to all network
• 5 sen / SMS for on-net and 15 sen / SMS for off-net
• 18 sen/MMS for on-net and 28 sen/MMS for off-net
• Voicemail at 12 sen/call
• Videomail at 0.2 sen/sec
• RM68 monthly commitment fee

U98 Postpaid

• Whopping 49,000 free calls (based on 1 sen/call)
• 0.2 sen/sec (12 sen/minute) for voice/video calls to all network
• 5 sen / SMS for on-net and 15 sen / SMS for off-net
• 18 sen/MMS for on-net and 28 sen/MMS for off-net
• Voicemail at 12 sen/call
• Videomail at 0.2 sen/sec
• RM98 monthly commitment fee
• Phone Bundling Options
• 18 months contract period
  

To begin with, U Mobile is now consistent that it offers per second billing and no access fee with their monthly commitment based plans. As mentioned in the U Mobile 018 Prepaid post, per second billing is proven to save more and it is expected that these plans would somehow help save in the long run.

On the plans specificly, U38 is currently the lowest commitment based plan in the market. This should not be confused with DiGi’s DG20 which the RM20 denotes subscription/access fee which does not contribute to your usage. The U38 rate is slightly on the high side with 24 sen/minute for off-net as compared to DiGi’s DG20 20 sen/minute. Overall U38 may be cost saving for low usage subscribers due to its commitment based usage and per second billing.

U68 & U98 are essentially the same thing. Both share the same rates for calls, SMS, MMS and Data. The only difference is the monthly commitment which is RM30/month. So what do you get for commiting for an extra RM30/month? According to their phone bundling options on their website, you could get a Samsung Z140 for FREE and other various models from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola & LG for several hundred ringgit cheaper than normal.

From the way we see it, U98 is just a one time phone discount option on top of U68. At the moment, it seems that the bundled phones are to be paid outright as we don’t see any monthly installment plans. In this time of rising costs of living, it is more sensible that U98 phone bundle repayment is done on a monthly installment package tied to the 18 month contract period.

Another thing to note is that U38 is the only postpaid that comes with FREE 2 Months Data Usage. We are surprised that U68 & U98, with a higher commitment fee does not come with this free Data usage. However they are also giving an option for subscribers to opt for Surf with U data package for RM58/month until December 2008 (Normal price RM68/month). Of course as usual, the “Unlimited Surfing” is subject to certain terms & conditions.

Free Calls? What Free Calls?

We just gotta mention about this! On their website, U Mobile claims of offering tens of thousands of FREE CALLS with its new postpaid plans with U38 offering 12,000 FREE calls, U68 with 34,000 FREE calls and U98 with 49,000 FREE calls.  At first we thought U Mobile is doing something radical in the local telco scene but it turns out to be a silly gimmick.

The so called thousands of FREE calls are actually the minimum of seconds in the commitment which is already been PAID for in the monthly minimum commitment! Plus, who makes a call that is only 1 second long? It is ridiculous that U Mobile is daring to make such silly claim of whopping free calls. Sure it is catchy but the consumers aren’t that stupid.

Conclusion

Overall it is a great attempt from U Mobile to create more competition in the postpaid market and their per second billing for postpaid is the 1st of its kind in Malaysia. As mentioned before on their coverage, U Mobile is still hampered by its limited 3G coverage and dealers which are currently concentrated in the Klang Valley. DiGi has already responded to U Mobile with their New Postpaid plans and we certainly look forward to Celcom & Maxis’s counter attack.

The plan names of DG 20, DG 50, DG 150 & DG 250 may look like it represents the monthly commitment usage but it is actually different for the case of DG 20 & DG 250. DG 20 & DG  250 is actually monthly subscription based plans which is similar to monthly access fee.

The Rates

DG20

• 20 sen/minute for calls to all networks
• 15 sen/SMS to all networks
• RM20 Subscription Fee

DG50

• 13 sen/minute for calls to all networks
• 10 sen/SMS to all networks
• RM50 Monthly Commitment Fee

DG150

• 10 sen/minute for calls to all networks
• 10 sen/SMS to all networks
• FREE on-net calls & SMS if total usage exceeds RM150
• RM150 Monthly Commitment Fee

DG250

• FREE Domestic Calls & SMS to all networks (up to RM600/month)
• 10 sen/minute for calls & 10 sen/SMS for excess usage after RM600
• RM250 Subscription Fee

Monthly Commitment vs Subscription

The 4 may look the same but it should be noted that there is a difference between Monthly commitment and Subscription fee. At first, our first impression was that DG 20 would be the lowest postpaid plan but a closer check revealed that it is actually RM20 subscription fee + usage with no subscription fee waiver for a minimum usage. Who pays for subscription/access fee these days?

Super Plan for heavy users (Cakap dan SMS Banyak)

The DG250 plan looks like a heavy duty plan for those make calls more frequent than normal. RM250 subscription gives you RM600 worth of calls & usage. RM600 is equivalent to 100 hours (6000 minutes) of talk to all networks or 6000 SMS a month. Additional usage exceeding RM600 would be charged at 10 sen/minute.

Conclusion

It is interesting to see the reactions from other Maxis & Celcom after DiGi and U Mobile has launched its new postpaid line up. Will this spark another round of price war? We wonder how much longer can Malaysian telcos sustain by cutting their rates lower. What’s for sure is that consumers will be benefiting from it especially when MNP (Mobile Number Portability) is made available soon.

Links
DiGi New (i heart savings) Postpaid Plans
Yellow Heart Just Got Bigger
DiGi to introduce 4 new plans?
TheStar: New Packages to lfit DiGi postpaid user base

Shortly after the release of U Mobile’s new postpaid plans (U38, U68 & U98), DiGi is about to introduce some exciting new postpaid plans. From what was reported on NTV7 tonight, it seems that there would be 4 plans which one of which we believe is offering FREE domestic calls.

We would like to link the NTV7 report of DiGi’s new postpaid plans here but NTV7 site is in a revamp process for their 10th anniversary.

Check back here again for details.

Links
DiGi Postpaid: DG20, DG50, DG150 & DG250