Annual Report 2016
Annual Report 2016
Our new focus on data-centric plans and services first started with the launch of our SIM Only plans in 2015. These contract-free plans proved instantly popular as it gave our customers greater flexibility in managing their communications needs, offering in fact, an unprecedented level of usage freedom at very affordable prices.
In 2016, much to the further delight of our customers, we launched another innovative data product, a data add-on called DataX2. This data option allows customers to double their data for an affordable flat fee, giving them better value when they sign up and recontract with us.
We also introduced Singtel Music, another breakthrough service and the first in Singapore to provide data-free music from popular providers Spotify, KKBOX, MeRadio and AMPed. It was an instant hit among music fans.
With our focus on delivering top quality content to our customers tailored to their entertainment consumption habits – be it on TV, online or on-the-go, we are working closely with traditional and non-traditional content providers to offer a wider range of entertainment options.
We partnered streaming service providers Netflix and Viu to bring millions of hours of top quality English language and premium Korean movies and TV shows to our customers on multiple platforms.
Continuing our push to provide differentiated content to our Singtel TV customers, we also added key channels such as Discovery, Warner TV and ethnic channels for our multinational audience. We sealed our status as the “home of football” by scoring a hat trick, and winning broadcast rights for the biggest football events of 2016 – Barclays Premier League, UEFA EURO and Copa America.
In broadband, we led in technology innovation when we launched our 10Gbps fibre broadband plan for residential customers. The ultra-high speeds of 10Gbps supports bandwidth-intensive activities and will also ready our network to meet the needs of the rapidly developing IoT ecosystem.
We were also the first in Singapore to up the ante in the mobile payments space, offering an all-in-one mobile payments solution with the new version of our popular app Singtel Dash. Singtel Dash now provides fast and secure transit payments for public transport and top-ups, in-store and online retail payments, as well as local and overseas money transfers to Singaporeans, regardless of their telco relationship or device.
We recognise that a good network requires broad spectrum holdings, efficient and fast radio technology, leading indoor and outdoor coverage and fast low latency transmission. Our efforts to step up on network planning, deployment, maintenance and innovation have yielded results. According to the Infocomm Development Authority’s reports, Singtel offers Singapore’s fastest and widest 4G experience, and has topped the nation’s widest 4G outdoor coverage chart for six consecutive quarters (Q4 2014 to Q1 2016).
In 2015, we also reinforced our market leadership as the first operator in Southeast Asia to provide a tri-band LTE network using 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz spectrum. With our tri-band network and nationwide deployment of 900Mhz, we are able to deliver an even deeper 4G indoor coverage with wider and more consistent network performance as well as offer superior speeds of up to 337Mbps.
Another first in Singapore, our carrier grade WiFi, Singtel Premium WiFi, complements our superior coverage in 800 hotspots nationwide, including major MRT stations and popular F&B outlets such as McDonald’s.
We are also rolling out small cell and Hetnet technology to make our network smarter and more efficient.
We aspire to be a frontrunner in the deployment of 5G globally and are well on our journey to making it a reality. Our joint trials with Ericsson of pre-5G technologies such as License Assisted Access and Narrow Band-IoT technologies, will pave the way for us to implement next generation network innovations that are central to our Smart Nation ambitions.
We continue to make meaningful connections with our customers online, over the phone and in-store, to enrich their service experience. Enhanced digital engagement via My Singtel app, live webchat and social media channels has been well-received by customers. Additionally, to deliver a better in-person retail experience, we also improved customer processes and revamped several of our Singtel Retail Shops.
In a bid to thank customers with existing mobile and fibre entertainment plans, we introduced the much talked about Singtel Circle. This first-of-its-kind benefits programme in Singapore offers customers free unlimited local mobile data on Sundays and a Hollywood movie on Singtel TV every weekend.
The transformation of Optus into a mobile-led multimedia company coincides with the growing consumer appetite for online entertainment. About two-thirds of Australian adults currently use the internet to access video content. According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, video on demand is forecast to account for 82% of Australian IP traffic and more than 77% of mobile data traffic by 2019.
Anticipating this continued growth, we are investing in partnerships, including with Cricket Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee. In November 2015, we won the exclusive Australian rights to the next three seasons of the English Premier League football competition. This marquee acquisition represents a milestone in the changing nature of content delivery to Australian consumers.
This year, we introduced a range of plans to help customers maximise their data. We extended data rollover to prepaid mobile and prepaid mobile broadband plans. We also introduced Family Sharing, which allows customers to share and combine their entire household’s mobile data allowance on one bill. In August, we extended data sharing through Data Pool, which allows customers to combine the data from both their mobile and mobile broadband devices.
We were the first Australian telco to offer a mobile payment facility, Cash by Optus. Launched on Android in late 2014, the technology has been extended to iPhone using a Payment Sticker and also includes an NFC-enabled wristband which links directly to the Cash by Optus app.
In the home, we are driving the take-up of great value broadband plans. These bundle together unlimited data, telephony and compelling entertainment offers such as Yes TV by Fetch or subscription offers to video-on-demand services, Netflix and Stan.
For customers who may not want, or who are unable to receive a fixed broadband service, we have introduced Home Wireless Broadband. This is an out-of-the-box modem that uses mobile technology to deliver connectivity straight to a customer’s home, and is particularly useful for renters.
Optus recognises that our customers’ preferred methods of engagement are changing. Many customers prefer to interact through the immediacy of online channels using their mobile devices, rather than phoning a call centre or visiting a store.
Buoyed by the success of our self-service portals, My Optus App and My Account, we continue to adapt our customer service model. We have started a multi-year transformation to simplify our back-end technology and offer customers assistance through digital channels. This ensures issues can be resolved efficiently, reducing handoffs between front-line staff. Our social media response team handles up to 1,800 customer queries a day, while Yes Crowd, our peer-to-peer platform in which members share and resolve customer issues, supervised by Optus staff, received 2.7 million visits during the year.
We are also improving service for our small business customers by completing the rollout of 126 business specialist stores. A complementary service we now offer is Premium Business Support. This is a dedicated advisory centre to handle all our customers’ mobile and broadband queries.
Our products, services and content all rely on an outstanding network. Recognising the popularity of over-the-top video streaming services, we are focused on future-proofing our networks.
Our extensive network investment of A$1.6 billion in FY 2016, which is significantly above our annual average of A$1.3 billion, has allowed us to deliver 4G mobile coverage to 94% of Australians, and optimise our fixed networks for video streaming services.
Our ongoing network investment programme is yielding results, with the performance of our mobile and fixed networks recognised through independent testing. The P3 CommsDay Mobile Benchmark Australia ranked Optus’ mobile network as the best along major roads and highways, while the Australian Netflix ISP Speed Index has ranked Optus’ fixed networks as the best for prime-time streaming for six consecutive months. Stan, a major Australian streaming provider, rated Optus as providing the fastest streaming service for its viewers for five consecutive months.
Acquiring new regional licences in the 1800MHz spectrum band positions us to expand 4G even further. We are the first Australian carrier to introduce WiFi Talk, enabling customers to call and text over public WiFi where mobile coverage is limited or non-existent.
The growth in mobile data services is a major opportunity for emerging market telcos seeking to diversify beyond traditional revenue streams from voice and text. The number of data users across our associates’ markets was 198 million as at 31 March 2016, a 21% increase from a year earlier, while data volumes increased by 78% over the same period. Year-on-year revenue growth from mobile data ranged from 21% to 65%.
Innovative pricing is helping to drive customer adoption of mobile data. In India, Airtel Night was introduced last year, where rebates were offered to customers who use mobile data between 12am and 6am. This resulted in a 33% increase in data usage at night. In the Philippines, the Globe myLifestyle Plan was launched. It is a customisable postpaid plan which gives customers the flexibility to select from various promotional packs that best suit their lifestyles and mobile data needs.
Expanding the suite of attractive digital content through over-the-top (OTT) services is another way in which our associates are increasing their revenue. In Thailand, AIS Playbox was launched to provide high quality digital entertainment with its extensive range of TV channels, movies, cartoons and karaoke songs for home broadband customers. AIS has extended this to a mobile platform, AIS Play. Meanwhile, HOOQ, a premium OTT video service by Singtel, has been launched in many of our associates’ markets, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. This has stoked data usage, since the latest movies and TV shows come at an affordable fee.
Mobile payments are also proving popular in the emerging markets, where a large part of the population do not have credit cards or bank accounts. In Africa, Airtel Timiza was introduced to allow its customers access to short-term loans through their mobile phones. Telkomsel also offered the TCash Tap sticker – an electronic money service that offers customers a safe, easy and fast way to make payments with selected merchants.
Our associates are significantly expanding their 3G and 4G network capabilities to meet the rising demand for mobile data. Collectively, about S$8 billion was spent on capital expenditure in FY 2016, following a combined investment of more than S$13 billion over the previous two years. AIS, Airtel India and Globe also acquired additional 4G spectrum during the year.
With India’s government and youthful population committed to transformation via the Digital India initiative, mobile data adoption is set to grow in both cities and rural areas. Airtel is investing INR 600 billion over the next three years to improve voice and data services for customers as part of its Project Leap transformation. Airtel was the first to launch 4G in India and currently offers 4G in 14 telecom circles. In addition, recent spectrum acquisitions will allow Airtel to offer 4G services across the whole of India.
Significant network expansions are also underway across the rest of our footprint. In January 2016, AIS launched 4G services across 42 provinces in Thailand, with the aim of achieving 50% population coverage by year end. In Indonesia, Telkomsel currently offers 4G in about 40 cities, in addition to its 3G coverage, while in the Philippines, Globe is expanding its 4G coverage and capacity.
Airtel Africa is also investing in network infrastructure to support its growing mobile data customer base. It is currently expanding its 3G network to become the market leader in the various markets where it operates. It has also introduced 4G in Seychelles, Rwanda and Gabon.
Collaboration among Singtel’s associates reached new highs in 2015 as we sought ways to leverage the Group’s scale.
Our Centres of Excellence framework provides a platform to share business insights, product strategies and operational best practices across the Group. Group-wide initiatives such as our annual CEO Forum, Product Innovation Fair and Mobile App Challenge are also designed to encourage cross-pollination of new ideas and tap into local tech ecosystems. Group negotiations for entry-level handsets as well as SIMs lower our operating costs and help to promote the adoption of mobile data.
Our collaborative efforts also enable our content and service partners to tap on the Group’s collective billing capability, both in direct carrier billing as well as mobile wallets. The Singtel Open Platform is a common payment gateway for Singtel, Optus and our regional mobile associates. This one-stop shop significantly reduces the integration effort and time for our business partners. In FY 2016, we signed agreements with online shopping company Lazada, gaming company Asiasoft and transport booking app Grab, which allow customers to make payments using our associates’ direct carrier billing and mobile wallet capabilities. Such arrangements will empower millions of customers without access to credit cards and bank accounts to participate in online commerce with the security and convenience of cashless payments.
