Asia Pacific Mobile alliance group Bridge Alliance, has launched a new mobile data roaming plan catering to frequent travelers who need to access their emails or perform downloads from the mobile internet without incurring high charges.
The ‘Bridge DataRoam’ plan is a one-flat rate data roaming plan that can be used when customers roam on the alliance’s 11 member operator networks.
The operators who are part of this alliance are; Airtel (India), AIS (Thailand), CSL ( Hong Kong), CTM ( Macau), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis ( Malaysia), SK Telecom (Korea), SingTel Mobile (Singapore), Singtel Optus (Australia), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan) and Telkomsel (Indonesia).
Customers have a choice of two capped usage monthly subscription plans, the Bridge DataRoam 15 and the Bridge DataRoam 40. The former offers 15MB worth of downloads for USD 60 and the latter offers 40 MB worth of downloads for USD 60.
Catered for the mid to heavy data users, the 15MB and 40MB plans can provide up to 300 emails or 1500 WAP pages and 800 emails or 4000 WAP pages downloads respectively.
However, if customers exceed the pre-paid quota, they would have to ride on the prevailing data roaming charges according to the region they are at.
Bridge Alliance, which was previously known as Bridge Mobile Alliance, told journalists at the launch of this new initiative last week that currently different operators are charging different data roaming rates across Asia Pacific which can be confusing for customers. More importantly many customers have experienced a “bill shock” which is vis-à-vis to uncontrolled data usage when unaware of prevailing rates. With the new plan, customers can plan before they travel and will know exactly how much to pay for their data roaming.
“Bridge DataRoam is a service that brings to life the band promise of seamlessness and straightforward services to help our customers stay one step ahead of their busy lives,” said Mr Lim Chua Poh, Chairman of Bridge Alliance.
“Bridge DataRoam is priced at a level that will bring about a sense of “peace of mind” when our customers access their emails and other data services while traveling in the region.”
Both plans can be used for the Blackberry and general mobile data roaming and claims to “provide the best value of up to 10 times more usage benefits.”
With regards to the new brand identity, Mr Lim told journalists that the new name and new logo marks the start of a new phase in the growth of the alliance. With the advancement in technology, the lines that once clearly defined fixed and mobile telecommunications have started blurring and the organisation wants to ensure it will be recognized in both areas and believes the new brand will pave the way for it to do so.
Bridge DataRoam will be available for subscription in the month of November.
Bridge Alliance also mentioned in a prepared statement that beyond the 11 territories, the alliance has plans to extend the roaming coverage to more territories in the future. |
