Gents,
Singapore, Malaysia to Launch Special Economic Hub
Singapore and Malaysia just signed a landmark deal to set up the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) to attract investments from both local and international companies where businesses operating in this zone will have favorable tax rates as low as 5 percent. Johor's population is around 4 million and it is 4 times the size of Singapore. I think this could be a potential opportunity for SIMBA to enter Malaysia and offer its low-cost services to businesses and people living/working in this zone. SIMBA recently upgraded all its plans to include local data shared between SG-MY (eg. SIM-Only 200GB SG-MY for $10/month) but Malaysians visiting Singapore cannot sign-up to these plans on a long term, ongoing basis unless they have a working visa or long-term pass. Currently, Malaysian visitors can only sign-up for 30 days Prepaid SIM and MUST renew at a SIMBA's service Centre every 30 days with Passport if needed.
I am sure David Teoh (migrated to Australia from Malaysia in 1986) and the management team will be analyzing this trade agreement in great detail to see if they can bring SIMBA services into this Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and expanding its market.
I think it would be a great satisfaction and a huge motivation for Teoh if he can finally crack the motherland market. I have no doubt it will happen one day and sooner than we think. Expect to hear more about this at the Half Year report in March.
Locally, with the latest killer offers from SIMBA, I think most MVNOs will exit the market, 4 x MNOs will become 3. SIMBA will benefit from fewer competitors whether it merged with Starhub/M1 or remained a standalone.
This is just my opinion, not financial advice, please do your own research.
Howie
(20min delay)