SNAP AND SHARE YOUR TRAVEL MOMENTS WITH ‘U’

U Mobile Introduces Lowest Unlimited Internet Roaming Services

Kuala Lumpur, 1 November 2013 – According to a recent survey by TripAdvisor’s Trip Barometer Mobile and Social Survey , Malaysians are known to be tapping away on their smartphones, and are addicted to staying connected online via their mobile devices while travelling, be it for business or leisure.

To satisfy consumers’ needs to be in-touch and document their journeys on their own social media networks, U Mobile - Malaysia’s most dynamic and innovative 3G mobile operator – unveils lowest unlimited internet roaming for existing and new postpaid  customers.

U Mobile postpaid plan customers can now rejoice as they are able to stay connected with their friends, family, colleagues and business partners at market’s lowest unlimited internet roaming rate as they travel Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. With a maximum rate of RM30 daily, customer can now travel without worries and enjoy unlimited internet surfing while they are travelling abroad.

The new internet roaming service by U Mobile enables its postpaid customers to check business emails, connect with their circle of contacts via social networking and instant messaging applications such as WeChat, KakaoTalk and WhatsApp; and share their travel moments and discoveries on Facebook, Instagram and other social sharing sites of their choice.

As the internet roaming rate caps at RM30 per day, U Mobile postpaid customers can bury qualms over costly charges and bill-shock at the end of the month; and continue to stay connected and share their precious travel moments with their friends and family. In addition, the telco’s new unlimited internet roaming service does not require any sign up or pre-activation, hence making it more convenient for customers to enjoy unlimited internet access while travelling abroad.  

“Mobile users today are glued to their smartphones, even while they are travelling. Either they are snapping pictures of interesting discoveries and sharing them on social networking platforms, or simply updating their loved ones on their whereabouts; internet is a necessity for their escapades.

U Mobile’s new unlimited internet roaming service allows customers to enjoy limitless possibilities of documenting their travel experiences and still receive updates on what is happening back home while they are away,” said Jasmine Lee, U Mobile’s Director of Marketing.

“This offering comes just in time for the year-end holiday season, where many people usually go for holidays. Our new unlimited internet roaming service will be a great complement to our customers’ smartphones to stay connected. We are looking to expand the list of countries soon, so that they can enjoy similar internet roaming rates during their trips,” she added.

Frequent travellers to these regions can also bid farewell to tedious manual set-up procedures as U Mobile postpaid plan subscribers will be prompted to roam with the telco’s preferred roaming partner in each region upon arrival at the mentioned destinations via SMS. Consumers can enjoy all the great deals and offerings by simply switching to U Mobile to enjoy unlimited internet roaming, and many other attractive and value-for-money services.

U Mobile has partnered with China Unicom, PCCW in Hong Kong, Taiwan Mobile and Singapore’s StarHub as roaming partners in those regions. Should users choose to roam with other operators, the standard Pay As You Use (PAYU) rates will apply. This special rate of RM30 per day is valid until 28 February 2014.

Asia Pacific sees drop in 4Q08 net additions as Christmas period fails to ignite mobile sales

25 March, 2009

The economic slowdown has impacted the Asia Pacific mobile industry hard with the number of new mobile users signed up over the Christmas sales period falling almost 20 million in 4Q08 from 3Q08 - traditionally the slowest quarter in the calendar.

New research from Informa Telecoms & Media showsthat mobile net additions in the Asia Pacific regiondeclined 22.6% from 87.69 million in 3Q08 to just67.91 million in 4Q08. The last Christmas reversalcame in 2002 when net adds fell 5.9% from 26.75million in 3Q02 to 25.17 million in 4Q02.

“Economic woes, subscriber base clean ups in China,Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as less competitionin Indonesia contributed to the uncharacteristicfall in net additions,” said Nicole McCormick, senioranalyst at Informa.

China alone accounted for more than half of theregion’s total decline in net adds, falling 56.65%from 23.39 million in 3Q08 to just 10.14 millionin 4Q08.

However, the blip in China appears to be a one-offas China Telecom culled 13.3 million inactivesubscriptions in the month of October alone aftertaking control of China's Unicom's CDMA business.

Meanwhile, 4Q08 spelled continued bad news foroperators in Pakistan and Bangladesh with net addsdecreasing by 112.4% and 26.2% respectively comparedwith 3Q08. In both countries mobile growth wasimpacted by the crackdown on unregistered SIM cardsand economic factors.

Pakistan recorded a net loss of almost 300,000subscribers, compared with almost 6 million net addsin 2Q08 and 2.18 million net adds in 3Q08. Indonesiaalso took a hit in terms of growth, with net addsfalling from 14 million in 2Q08 to 13.15 million in3Q08, before more than halving to 6.36 million in 4Q08.

“It came as little surprise that Indonesia’s netadds slowed quite considerably in 4Q08, since thefierce price war ignited by third-ranked playerExcelcomindo in 2Q07 finally eased,” said McCormick.“Moreover, many customers that took on a cheap secondSIM card during the recent promotions, reverted backto a single SIM card in 4Q08.”

Meanwhile, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam were amongthe few bright spots in 4Q08. India added nearlythree times more new subscriptions than China withalmost 30 million net adds in 4Q08, up 10.7% on3Q08’s net adds of close to 27 million. “Low tariffs,widening network coverage and cheaper handsetsremain the key drivers of mobile growth in India,”said McCormick.

Informa Telecoms & Media warns that Asia’s worseningeconomies spell particularly bad news for countries,such as China, India and Pakistan - and even Thailand,Indonesia and the Philippines, now focusing on ruralcommunities to drive growth.