Its been more than 18 months since the successful commercial launch of Brunei's second mobile service provider. One can't help but ask the question, how's it doing really? In terms of penetration, has it really gotten any traction in the market? What is 3G being used for aside from as a modem to access the web? Is there a killer-app out there? Can anyone shed some light on these questions?
Now it's considered a cheaper alternative to Easi, and is much more common nowadays to see people with 3G handsets. With the introduction of the $99 mobile phone, they have succeeded in busting their only barrier to a wider (than initial launch) adaptation, that is the higher start up cost of having a 3G phone.
ReplyDeleteBefore, I'd be hard pressed to see anyone using a 3G line or buying a 3G top up card, but its much more common occurence nowadays.
As for the killer app, I don't think they have it yet. And even with the promised speed being touted, I can never get a smooth stream whenever I try to check out the traffic webcam.
souljah: thanks for that observation, but it still begs the question, how are they doing really? I'm sure a huge amount of money was sunk into the infrastructure for b-mobile... Have they broken even? Are they out of the red? If not, are they on track in terms of progress to doing so? These are all rhetorical questions of course but if b-mobile was a publicly owned company, wouldnt shareholders would demand to know? ;)
ReplyDeleteI beleive ROI would not easy to achive especially with high OPEX with low subscriber base:)
ReplyDeleteThey are lucky because their CAPEX is not that high due to availability of existing infrastucture being laid off my JTB througout the countries. They just need to ride on top of them :p
damn, I missed talking like that.. hahahahha
Seeing people with 3G handsets now is indeed common but mind you, I have dozens of friends who has a 3G mobile but is all still on the GSM network.
ReplyDeleteI dont see how can it be said that Bmoblie has been successful in getting their share of the market. Like anakbrunei, I would like to see some statistics on this. My guess is only that most people used their 3G line to get online while their main line is still with DST.
Here is an interesting fact to ponder, in Singapore from May 2005 onwards till today, they have so far 950k++ subscribers froma total of 4.6 million mobile users. Now explain to me how when theres nearly 200k Easi users, can Bmobile be said to be making a successful impact in the mobile market?
I worked at DST, and let me tell you, there's no way that DST has 200,000 users, not even by a long shot.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, I hadn't said that they have succeeded in getting their fair share of the market, I just said that they have succeeded in introducing a package that is far more attractive to the average Bruneian.
$99 gets you a whole lot of bang for the buck on b.mobile. Getting an equivalent flip phone with color and camera (+ line rental) at that same price for the GSM band is hard enough without carrier subsidy. Having Chinese manufacturer for your subsidized phone doesn't hurt either.
All I know is that b.mobile and TelBru are one in the same, insofar that b.mobile only needs to piggyback on TelBru's extensive coverage, with only putting up the telephone towers at the last mile, to achieve coverage. That in itself saves them a whole lot of infrastructure cost right there.
Are they making an impact? Decide for yourself; shortly after b.mobile's introduction, the cost to send an SMS or MMS on Easi reduced dramatically, as well as the cost to surf the net on Easi or Prima. They bundled Nokia phones along with Easi lines during promotional events opening their new branches. And there's even insider rumblings that DST are testing their own 3G offering.
Impact or not, at least it's trying to shake the sleeping giant from it's humdrum service and overly aggressive pricing scheme.
Souljah,do you really work with DST,well im not,but i can rest assure you that subs base for DST is well pass the 200k mark, ican even give you the exact no.if you want be in in the VLR or the HLR..jgn marah bro,can share info saja,and its still growing.
ReplyDeleteWell if you can give the exact correct figure, then I stand corrected. Like I said, I "worked" at DST, worked being the imperative word here.
ReplyDeleteIts 277k.
ReplyDeleteWow! 277k huh... is that Prima and Easi combined?
ReplyDeleteDo you have any figures for b-Mobile?