UPDATE July 12 9:00AM: M1 has followed up by offering free local voice calls, SMS/MMS as well as mobile data!
UPDATE2, July 12 12:00 PM: Starhub is offering 1GB free data for the month of August and free previews of their channels from 5 August to 11 August!

It’s free everything this SG51 for Singtel postpaid customers as Singtel has recently announced free mobile data for 24 hours on 9 August (Midnight till 11:59PM) and free viewing on Singtel TV and the Singtel TV GO App from 5 August – 9 August.

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, Singtel’s CEO Consumer Singapore, said: “As a proud home-grown company, Singtel is delighted to celebrate Singapore’s birthday with everyone. National Day is also a celebration of family and community.”

Sadly, other telco community members M1 and Starhub has yet to announce anything in return. Just last Chinese New Year, Starhub pushed forward free viewing of all their cable TV channels, but M1 remained silent.

We expect that Starhub will be offering their usual fare of free previews, but hope that they will try something else. As far as national day promotions go, last year’s was the most exciting as M1 sought to out-do the other telcos.

Last year, M1 struck first by announcing their national day promotions on 1 June, handing out free calls, data and messaging. Starhub made their announcement on 8 July, announcing an entire month of channel previews. Singtel was last, 15 July, with 2 days of free data, free Singtel TV previews and a mobile payments app welcome bonus.

The Same Old Fare?

Singtel’s announcement should lead the rest of the telcos to default to their usual promotions during national day. I find both sad and funny that there is even a “default” in a sense. Although SG50 was a landmark year, it doesn’t make sense that the telcos see promotions as something they go through the motions with.

Think about other promotions like the Great Singapore Sale. There are always a variety of deals to look out for, and likewise, telco promotions should consistently rise to the occasion instead of having a default one.

I’m looking forward to MyRepublic joining the telco scene and shaking things up. They shook the pricing scene up of the Telcos, so I expect them to have more aggressive and varied promotions to convert customers.

Feature Image Credit: Princess Diana Diaries