New telco launches in Singapore: no 2-year plans, no need to visit a store – ever

Circles.Life co-founder and director Rameez Ansar speaks at the telco’s launch event in Singapore. Photo credit: Circles.Life.

While competition around who will be Singapore’s fourth telco ramps up, one company has decided to go another route. All-digital telco Circles.Life today announced the launch of its 4G mobile service in the country.

Circles.Life wants to offer a completely digital experience, where a customer can sign up for the service, receive their SIM card, and even get a deal on a new phone, all through the company’s website. The telco says it targets a younger, tech-savvy demographic that is heavily invested in online services and connectivity.

“We think that’s about 15 to 20 percent of the market in Singapore, and we’re dead set to focus on them,” co-founder and director Rameez Ansar said during the launch event.

Circles.Life is a virtual network partnering with Singapore telco M1 to use its mobile infrastructure. The company would not disclose more details on the specifics of the partnership, however.

The main draw here is the way Circles.Life handles your experience online and its flexible plan. To start with, the telco is offering a monthly base plan that costs S$28 (US$21) per month. This gives you 3GB of data, 100 minutes of talk time, plus bonus data.

Bonus data is Circles.Life’s idea of a perk, showcasing the new telco’s approach to customer retention. There are no contracts binding you to the telco for a set amount of time, just gifts of additional mobile data for people who stick with the service long-term. The bonuses are also a way of incentivizing customer actions, like activating the app or referring a friend to the service.

Circles.Life wants you to access all its services through its software platform.

The plan also includes services like caller number display, unlimited plan changes, 4G, roaming services (using M1’s roaming network), and unlimited WhatsApp text messages and voice calls.

Customers can obviously pay something extra to get additional talk time, data, and SMS.

What Circles.Life zeroes in on, though, is the fact that all of the above can be done simply through its software platform, which includes a mobile app and website. Rameez calls the app the “most powerful” that people have seen from any telco.

Through it, you can monitor your usage, access customer support (also accessible via WhatsApp, by the way), and activate new products according to your needs. But the platform is also monitoring your usage to determine what type of products and services you are most likely to need (and also set you up with some relevant freebies).

So if the app detects you are running out of mobile data, it will give you a heads-up and suggest some boost packages – additional data for an additional fee. The idea is to not let you run over your data allowance, incurring unwanted costs, but notify you so you can control your spending.

The company’s co-founders – Rameez Ansar, Abhishek Gupta, and Adeel Najam – have backgrounds in technology, investment, and telecommunications, having worked for companies like Temasek Holdings, Bain Capital, and Huawei.