In addition to monthly subscription fees, telcos impose charges when their mobile plan subscribers exceed the monthly limit of the subscribed package. This is akin to "pay more when you use more" and is thus reasonable and logical.

In reality, however, not all subscribers will exceed the monthly limit. What about those who sign up for the most basic plan that offers the least amount of data usage but still cannot fully utilise it? There is no refund or a feature that allows the unutilised amount of data to be carried forward to the next month.

To entice subscribers, would telcos explore a feature that possibly allows the unutilised data to be carried forward?

Telcos could consider offering family plans comprising a few phone lines, among which the data use could be shared. In this way, telcos would then be getting more customers and, thus, more business. To stay ahead of the competition, it is certainly time for telcos to innovate and enhance their services so that they can continue to retain their customers.

Lim Lih Mei (Ms)