giga: mobile data service provider that knows your needs

If you have a mobile data plan that gives you 6GB of monthly data and you only used 4GB of it, what happens to the remaining 2GB when the new billing cycle begins? Well, it gets forfeited.

But what if it can be rolled over to the following month? Wouldn’t it be great?

That’s what giga, one of the youngest mobile data service provider is offering you – 25GB of mobile data for S$25 per month that rolls over unused data for up to two billing cycles. Really? Well, that’s why digitally savvy individuals are loving their plan. But don’t hear it from us. Hear from them instead.

In this interview, we spoke to the giga team about their beginning and what sets them apart from their competitors.

If you are signing up for a plan between now until 30 November, key in this promo code “techcoffeehouse” to get S$10 off your subscription fee for the first month.

How did giga get started?

giga is an independent sub brand funded by StarHub, to serve the needs of customers looking for a purely digital mobile experience.

Recognising that there is a segment of digital natives who are comfortable with technology and digitally-fronted customer experience, a lean team was assigned to set up giga, with the mandate and freedom to build a fresh brand to better address the needs and preferences of this segment.

giga was set up by a 5-member business team and 9-member IT team within a span of 6 months – from conceptualisation, product and customer journey design, app and systems development, to launch.

Apart from using StarHub’s network to provide our mobile service, giga is set up to operate independently of StarHub’s existing business and systems and has our own technology platforms and customer care support.

How does giga differentiate itself from its competitors?

giga strives to be the best mobile service in an App, providing customers with a better, simpler, more intuitive mobile experience; from product features, payment modes, delivery tracking, to customer service.

We are a brand-driven by customer-centricity and have engaged customers since even before we launched, incorporating their feedback in our creation journey.

Prior to the launch of giga, we conducted a series of #gigahuddles, inviting a group of ‘Superusers’ to participate in a pre-launch trial of our service and provide their honest feedback. Their feedback helped us finetune our product features, and create a sleeker, more intuitive app user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Real-time feedback via WhatsApp also alerted us to issues they faced and enabled us to troubleshoot and fix those issues not just for the group but all our customers. We were also proud to have fulfilled our promise to the Superusers to deliver some enhancements they suggested, by our official launch on 30^th May 2019.

In the four months since our launch, giga introduced several new initiatives to delight our customers – from ‘Happy Hour’ specials offering free add-on packs for giga customers, free data for National Day, to a first-of-its-kind partnership providing free unlimited data on a leading e-commerce platform leading up to the 9/9 online shopping event.

These initiatives have been well received and created high levels of engagement amongst our customers. These giga customers not only engaged with giga in a very positive manner, but have become strong advocates of the brand, interacting with other giga users, and proactively recommending giga to their friends and families on their own accord.

Is giga only targeting the younger generation?

giga is focused on serving the needs of digitally-savvy customers, who are typically youths and working adults. However, with our simple and seamless sign-up process and user journey all incorporated within our app, we are pleased to have garnered customers from a wide-ranging profile, even elderlies in their 60s!

What are the key differences of giga as compared to “mainstream” plans?

giga designed our products to be simple, clear and easily understood by customers. Our plan provides heaps of data, talktime and SMSes to meet the needs of consumers, even heavy data users, at an attractive price. While our lifestyle packs are designed to be stackable and bite-sized, so customers have full choice to buy only what they need – as little or as much as they want.

giga’s no-contract 25GB plan at $25 comes with:

• Free rollover data
  • A unique feature only offered by giga, customers can roll over unused data from their giga plan for another 2 renewal cycles, capped at 25GB at any point in time (Data from Jetset giga roaming pass and lifestyle packs will not be rolled over)
• 1000 minutes, 1000 SMSes
• Free caller number display
• Free incoming calls and SMSes

Jetset giga (data roaming pass) – data roam at an affordable rate

• Roaming data at 1GB for $5, valid for 5 days when customers reach their travel destination
• Surf seamlessly across any network in 14 destinations: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
• Customers have the convenience of purchasing their Jetset giga pass up to 3 months before travelling. When they reach their travel destination, Jetset giga will be automatically activated and valid for 5 days.

Lifestyle Packs – stackable bite-sized packs

• Data pack: Local data at 1GB for $2
• Insta ‘n’ FB pack: Local data for Instagram and Facebook usage, at 1GB for $1
• WhatsApp pack: Local data for WhatsApp usage, at 1GB for $1

You have a giga wallet. What’s the plan for that? Are you guys putting one leg in the Fintech game too?

The gigaWallet will be used to store gigaBucks earned by customers through our referral programmes. We are always on the lookout for new ways to meet our customers’ needs, and will update again if there are new developments.

There are many smaller players emerging in the market, also offering attractive rates for mobile data. Moving forward, what exciting plans can you share with us about what’s to come in the next few years for giga?

In the 4 months since our launch, we have launched several new initiatives by partnering with like-minded partners, to offer extra value to our customers. We are always on the lookout for new ways to delight our customers and foresee that partnerships will continue to play an essential role in enabling that. giga remains committed to listening to our customers, to continually improve and evolve our services shaped by customers’ needs and feedback; to create the best #gigaexperience for everyone.

Can you share with us more about this new referral programme and how it works?

To thank our giga customers for their enthusiasm and support, we invited a group of our brand advocates, or gigaSuperFans, for a special #gigahuddle on 4^th October 2019, where we announced the launch of not one, but two new giga referral programmes.

Refer a Friend programme

Customers who refer a friend to giga using their personalised referral codes will earn $2 gigaBucks for every line successfully activated by 30^th November 2019. Their friends will enjoy $10 off their first-month subscription (i.e. they pay $15 instead of $25 for their first month).

gigaSuperFan programme

giga has also identified a group of highly engaged gigaSuperFans who have shown a consistently strong affinity for the brand, to enjoy an enhanced referral programme. 

gigaSuperFans who refer a friend to giga using their personalised referral codes will earn $3 gigaBucks for every line successfully activated by 30^th November 2019. Their friends will enjoy their first month’s subscription FREE. This offer is valid for the 1^st 25 friends referred by gigaSuperFans.

Our research shows that rewards are often left unredeemed when customers do not make an effort to redeem them; thus gigaBucks earned by customers will be used to automatically offset their monthly giga subscription. Customers can also use gigaBucks to offset purchases of extras (such as giga Jetset roaming data pass) or other giga services. gigaBucks are valid for 90 days from the day they are credited into the gigaWallet.

To ensure customer- friendly experience, giga customers will also enjoy gigaBucks when they use their referral code to sign up for new lines under their existing giga account. Each giga account enables customers to register up to 12 lines, so existing giga customers stand to benefit even when they add new lines to their own account!