FRiENDi has just the deal for those looking for an affordable package

New player: (From left) FRiENDi mobile Malaysia director and board member Michael Klindt, Regional Sales Manager for East Malaysia Ting Sii Hu and Area Sales Manager for Sarawak Jeffrey Lim launching the new mobile service provider FRiENDi mobile here yesterday.

KUCHING: There is a new mobile service provider in town, and it has just the deal for those looking for an affordable and streamlined mobile package.

Virgin Mobile MEA (Middle East and Africa), an associate company of the UK-based Virgin Group, led by global entrepreneur icon Richard Branson and Malaysian partner Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Berhad have launched the FRiENDi mobile prepaid service to help Malaysians communicate better and more frequently with their local and global circle of friends and loved ones.

Launching the new kid on the block in terms of mobile providers here yesterday, FRiENDi mobile Malaysia director and board member Michael Klindt expressed that while the country was a mature market for basic voice and messaging services, there were still many things that could be done to give customers a better and fairer mobile experience.

“We studied the Malaysian market for 18 months and we found that customers in Malaysia are frustrated with the mobile rates being seen as confusing and expensive,” Klindt said during the ceremony, quoting data released by Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission that the mobile penetration rate was at 143.4% in the second quarter of 2013.

“The current market practice of charging either per minute or per 30 seconds is leading to unfairly higher costs for the customers, and the validity of prepaid cards is perceived as being much too short.

“Using these valuable insights from customers across Malaysia and representing all ethnic groups, we have designed the FRiENDi mobile product to address all these frustrations.”

True enough, FRiENDi looks like it is tailored to appease customers in terms of cost savings and on-the-go usage with the lowest call rates on the market yet.

Setting itself apart from its competitors by charging both domestic and international calls per second after the first minute, a FRiENDi mobile customer can call a friend or family member for two minutes and one seconds and be charged for that exact call duration, whereas the current mobile providers in Malaysia will charge up to a three minutes for this call.

This will enable customers to save up to 40% on their mobile phone costs, depending on the duration and destination of the call.

Additionally, each customer airtime will have a unique 30-day validity extension for every call, SMS, data consumption or reload made by the customer, as compared to existing practice in the market today where customers can only extend their validity via reloading.

FRiENDi mobile also offers a wide range of smaller Internet access packages starting from as little as RM1, allowing FRiENDi mobile subscribers to access the Internet based on time and in small denominations – depending on their cash flow and need for data.

Anyone can easily become a FRiENDi mobile customer by purchasing a SIM card ‘Starter Pack’ for RM5 that comes with RM5 credit. This allows customers to experience FRiENDi mobile at zero cost for the SIM card itself, and top-ups are available from as little as RM3, or as much as RM100.

“We are very excited to enter the Malaysian mobile market with FRiENDi mobile, and with the Virgin Mobile global experience we are introducing customer benefits not available in Malaysia until today,” said Klindt.

“With our low rates for local and international calls, per second charging after the first minute, and the unique lifetime validity, we expect to be warmly received by Malaysian mobile customers, and we look forward to serving all our new customers.”

From the day of launch, FRiENDi mobile has the support from a wide distribution network with 1,500 dealers across Malaysia — a number that will continue to grow over time.

The mobile service provider charges 12 sen/min for calls to FRiENDi numbers, while calls to other numbers will cost 18 sen/min. SMSes to FRiENDi numbers are 4 sen each and 8 sen each to other numbers.

For more details, visit friendimobile.my or call the FRiENDi mobile Customer Service team at 011-38-123456.