M1 has most to gain as tiered data pricing expands

While StarHub has most to lose.

Barclays noted that since 3Q12, mobile operators in Singapore have all moved to tiered data pricing from unlimited plans in an effort to better monetise increasing data usage -- a trend that will likely boost M1 the most among the three Singapore telcos.

"If the trend holds up, mobile-centric M1 has the most to gain, relatively speaking, amongst the three operators, followed by SingTel, then StarHub," said Barclays.

"We believe content is increasingly important to operators’ strategies as they look to optimise market shares into fibre broadband adoption in Singapore. We maintain that: 1) M1 has the most to win, but incremental earnings are unlikely to swing its earnings materially; and 2) StarHub has the most to lose, given its historical monopoly in cable TV in Singapore," it added.

In assessing M1's content strategy, Barclays noted the telco's recent launch of MiBox (an Android set-top box) that comes with a selection of free dramas, variety shows and other content.

The service is priced at S$8 a month with a 2-year contract for M1 fibre customers (S$12 per month for non-M1 fibre customers).

"M1 is trying to tap a segment of the market that wants to pay TV but does not want to pay up," said Barclays.

"The aggregation of a lot of content into one place is the value-add M1 is offering here. We will monitor this in subsequent quarters to see if it does stimulate subscriber take-up."