14 DAY TRIAL // SingTel, one of the largest telecoms companies in Southeast Asia, announced on Sunday the release of a new mobile download service on its home market of Singapore, called AMPed. The new service, which was launched in collaboration with Universal Music, provides users with access to music and videos, and is meant to position the carrier’s offering beyond “just bits and bytes,” as the company's CEO Allen Lew puts it.
At the same time, the wireless operator also announced that the new service would come not only to Singapore, but also in other parts of Asia. For the time being, it is available for the carrier's contract customers, and SingTel hopes that this move will attract new users while also determining existing ones to make upgrades to their monthly plans.
Mr Rob Wells, senior vice president of Digital from Universal Music Group International, said, “Universal Music is extremely happy to be part of the launch of AMPed in Singapore which we truly believe will redefine the landscape of digital music services in the market. With the roll-out of AMPed, SingTel customers will be in step with some of the best digital music offerings worldwide.”
According to Lew, more than 50 percent of the mobile phone users in Singapore listen to music on their handsets, which determines carriers to provide information and entertainment to their customers. The new service is offered on selected mobile plans at no additional cost, and allows users to browse and download content either on their mobile phones or on their personal computers.
SingTel also stated that the AMPed service would offer music videos too, as well as entertainment news and gossip, not to mention pre-album releases, while also providing links to social networking sites and delivering a chat function so that members would be able to communicate with one another. All these features are meant to provide an alternative to services that “offer unlimited music downloads,” such as the Nokia Comes With Music, which became rather popular since it was launched in Singapore.