New virtual telco Zero Mobile lets you lower your monthly fee to S$0

New virtual telco Zero Mobile lets you lower your monthly fee to S$0

Australian company Zero Mobile is the second virtual MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) to enter the Singapore Market, and has a plan to win over customers with an unusual plan that lets subscribers potentially lower their monthly bill to S$0.

The contract-free plan costs S$45/month for unlimited calls, unlimited SMS, and 6GB mobile data, but subscribers get S$9 off for every person they refer who signs up and maintains an active subscription. You can refer up to 20 people, but only five referrals will count towards your monthly subscription. With five active referred subscribers, a Zero Mobile subscriber effectively gets his mobile services for free.

Beyond the base subscription plan, Zero Mobile also offers data add-ons at 1GB for S$10, 3GB for S$20, and 6GB for S$30.

Zero Mobile also charges new subscribers a "joining fee" of S$50, regardless of whether they were referred by an existing subscriber or not.

If Zero Mobile's plan sounds a lot like a multi-level marketing strategy (a.k.a pyramid scheme), the current referral system appears to only be the first step of Zero Mobile's plans. Speaking to The Straits Times, Zero Mobile CEO, Daniel Waters, said, "We certainly do not classify it as a multi-level marketing strategy because this is a short-term campaign for three months only and not our ongoing business model." It remains to be seen how subscribers will be able to lower their monthly fees to zero after the three-month campaign is over.

Compared to other telco plans, Zero Mobile's base S$45 monthly fee is a lot more expensive than competing plans. For example, Circles.Life offers 100 minutes talk time, free unlimited incoming SMS with outgoing texts charged at S$0.05 each, and 6GB monthly mobile data for S$28/month. Circles.Life also has a referral programme but offers more mobile data as a reward rather than bill credit. Circles.Life also offers a data add-on of 20GB for S$20.

Sign-ups for Zero Mobile are currently closed, however, we understand that the service will be officially launching sometime next week, and signups should be open again then.

Source: Zero Mobile and The Straits Times