Singapore, 13 March 2000 -- 15,000 lucky winners have been selected to take part in StarHub’s mobile trial, which will last from 15 March to 30 April 2000. They were randomly selected from more than 100,000 people who had pre-registered for StarHub’s IDD 008 international calling service before the end of February.
"The response to our IDD 008 service has been overwhelming since we launched our pre-registration exercise in January. We wish we could make everyone of those who signed up part of our trial, but we can only select 15,000 lucky winners to be the first to enjoy StarHub’s innovative products and quality services ahead of our launch on 1 April. For those who have not been selected for our mobile trial, we will be contacting them in April with special offers to thank them for their interest in StarHub," said Mr Peter Kaliaropoulos, Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations, StarHub.
StarHub’s mobile trial customers will enjoy the free use of a mobile phone and free local calls for the duration of the trial. They will also enjoy free use of a full range of value-added services such as voice-mail, short messaging service and multi-party calling. Upon the end of the trial, trial customers will be offered attractive packages to remain as StarHub subscribers.
"We understand that there is growing anticipation of StarHub’s entry into the market and there is great interest in StarHub’s rates and services. However, for competitive reasons, we can’t release that information until closer to our launch on 1 April. We hope that the public can wait a while more to see StarHub’s bold and innovative IDD and mobile offerings first before making a long-term commitment to another info-communications provider," added Mr Kaliaropoulos.
These 15,000 trial customers will form part of a 30,000-strong trial market designed to put a ‘live’ load on StarHub’s networks and systems in order to optimise performance and fully exercise StarHub’s customer service operations. Trial customers will however not be able to use StarHub’s WAP services and make international or 1900- calls unless they apply for a StarHub mobile paid-subscriber plan from 1 April 2000.
The winners will be notified by post to collect their trial pack between 15 March – 22 March 2000 from Rooms 325-326 at the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre (SICEC). Members of the public who would still like to pre-register for StarHub’s IDD 008 service can still do so by calling 1-800-StarHub or accessing StarHub’s website (www.starhub.com.sg).
Pre-registration for StarHub’s IDD 008 service will allow users to enjoy the benefits of competition immediately on 1 April 2000 when StarHub launches commercially. There is no requirement for users to change their fixed line operator to use this international calling service - SingTel fixed line users who want to use StarHub’s 008 access code will be able to dial 008 and place an international call directly without being routed to a StarHub operator. There is no registration cost and no obligation to registrants until they decide to use the service.
