For ensuring effective communications between Singapore’s migrant workers and their families back home, VivoHub, Singapore-based mobile-services provider, has partnered with Tata Communications, a global digital infrastructure provider.
Through this partnership, VivoHub’s mobile app VivoBee will transform into a one-stop suite of mobile services designed to meet the needs of Singapore’s one million migrant workers.
“With the help of the cloud-based Tata Communications MOVE platform, VivoHub has now become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) without having to make capital investments in its own mobile network infrastructure or service management. The company operates as an MVNO of StarHub, a leading mobile network operator in Singapore, and leases its network capacity to offer mobile services in the country,” said Tata Communications in a press release.
VivoBee seeks to address the issue of accessibility to data, calling and messaging services for migrant workers, which is a comparatively neglected market in Singapore. Since the initial launch of its IDD calling cards in 2011 followed by the mobile app in 2016, VivoBee has aggregated more than 100,000 users who make an average of 20 million IDD call minutes per month to friends and family back home. Through this collaboration with Tata Communications, VivoHub aims to capture 150,000 VivoBee MVNO subscribers within the first year.
By subscribing to VivoBee MVNO’s mobile membership plan, users will not just be able to make local and overseas calls, access data services and gift data to their family and friends back home – they will also enjoy a monthly bundle of free local data, overseas and local calls, SMS and other social media add-ons together with VivoBee reward vouchers. They’re able to access these services via the VivoBee mobile app, which acts as a one-stop-shop for the management of their mobile plan.
Commenting on the partnership, Anthony Bartolo, Chief Product Officer, Tata Communications, said, “Mobile start-ups that are looking to disrupt the market and accelerate their growth need a flexible, scalable and reliable platform to underpin their innovative new services.”
“They need to manage the pressure of keeping CAPEX costs low while offering users brilliant services. The ubiquitous nature of Tata Communications MOVE eliminates the cost and complexity of building and managing a mobile network, while helping innovative companies like VivoHub deliver customised mobile services with seamless, reliable connectivity,” he added.
Alvin Tan, Chief Executive Officer, VivoHub, said, “We’re launching this offering because the variety of mobile services and competitive pricing enjoyed by mass market users are often not made available to blue-collar migrant workers, and we saw an opportunity to change the landscape to better cater to their needs.”
“The software-defined capabilities of Tata Communications MOVE allow us to bring this innovative offering to market while keeping infrastructure costs down. We’re able to introduce this new suite of mobile services in an agile, cost-effective, and scalable manner – passing the savings on to our users in the form of cheaper alternatives and unlimited rewarding options,” he added.
Notably, Tata Communications MOVE offers flexible APIs, which enables VivoHub to manage its operations such as service activation, billing, promotions and value-added services such as entertainment and gifting for family members overseas, at the software layer. The software-defined, cloud-based architecture makes it easy for VivoHub to adapt its tariffs, introduce new services and expand its offering to new market segments beyond the migrant community soon.
Tata Communications MOVE is part of the company’s aim of creating borderless mobile experiences for people and things. It is underpinned by Tata Communications’ relationships in the world’s mobile ecosystem and its global network, which today carries around 30 per cent of the world’s internet routes.