$5 mobile plans for low-income seniors extended

Affordable mobile phone plans for low-income senior citizens at $5 a month have been extended so those who sign up can now enjoy them for two years instead of one.

The government-subsidised plans give eligible seniors at least 5GB of data monthly and a smartphone that starts from $20.

The extension is to enable more "lower-income seniors to enjoy affordable mobile access for a longer period so they can continue to learn new digital skills", the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) said yesterday.

It was one of the initiatives announced by Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo yesterday to encourage seniors to get connected online.

The $5 plans come under the Mobile Access for Seniors scheme. When they were made available from telcos Singtel, StarHub, M1 and TPG Telecom in July last year, they lasted for only one year.

To qualify, seniors must be, among other things, aged 60 or older, Singaporean, and receiving Comcare assistance or living in Housing Board Public Rental Scheme housing.

More than 10,000 people aged 60 and over were receiving Comcare assistance for their households as at March 31 last year. So far, more than 7,900 seniors have benefited from the mobile access scheme.

The improved scheme complements other efforts by the SG Digital Office (SDO). IMDA set up the office in June last year as part of the Government's push to build a digitally inclusive Singapore.

Mrs Teo told reporters at an event to mark SDO's one-year anniversary at Jurong Spring Community Club yesterday that the level of comfort and competency in using digital tools is not even across the whole population.

"There will be segments of our society who feel fearful about using digital technologies. Because of that, they feel inhibited about trying, and we're very concerned because we don't want people to be excluded from participating meaningfully in Singapore's digital future," she said.

Over 100,000 seniors aged 60 and above have benefited from digital skills training by SDO.

The office has engaged 18,000 hawkers in adopting digital tools such as the national unified e-payment solution, dubbed Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR).

Over 60 per cent of them have adopted SGQR. The number of stall transactions using SGQR from June last year to July this year hit 1.8 million, up from 270,000 over the same period one year before. The transaction value grew to $17.3 million, from $2.9 million a year ago.

Mrs Teo said the proportion of customers of each hawker who use SGQR varies from 10 per cent to as high as 60 per cent.

Other initiatives for seniors which she announced include expanding the Seniors Go Digital programme that currently teaches seniors digital skills at community centres and public libraries.

SDO will partner employers to bring the programme closer to seniors by holding the training at their workplaces. Called SDO@Workplace, the new initiative was successfully piloted with home-grown supply chain solutions company YCH Group at its Jurong Supply Chain City headquarters.

SDO digital ambassadors provide training there on a one-to-one basis for seniors employed by YCH.

Mr Juay Teck Seng, 60, an assistant supervisor at YCH who attended a training session, said he had known about the Seniors Go Digital programme previously, but found it hard to make time for it.

A useful skill he learnt was how to make clinic appointments online using the Ministry of Health's HealthHub app, which could cut his waiting time to about half an hour, he said. Previously, without a booking, he could wait several hours to see a doctor.

The training at the SDO@Workplace hub at YCH can be customised to help seniors learn how to use apps needed for their work.

SDO is planning to roll out similar hubs at more workplaces.

It is also setting up 200 roving community counters, such as at senior activity centres, to bring skills training nearer to more seniors.

The Seniors Go Digital programme will also be customised for seniors from specific segments of the community, such as those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

For details on the Mobile Access for Seniors scheme, e-mail info@imda.gov.sg or call 6377-3800.