Article misrepresents StarHub’s performance and strategy

WE REFER to the article “Simba gains ground against incumbent telcos in 2024: Opensignal” (BT, Jan 16). While we respect the role of the media in informing the public, we must clarify key parts of the article that misrepresent StarHub’s performance and strategy.

Customer movement data

The article cites Opensignal’s Jan 14 Market Insights report, stating that “Simba performed the best against StarHub, gaining 2.4 subscribers for every subscriber it lost to StarHub in 2024”. However, this conclusion is based on app usage patterns from its user base, which represents only a subset of the market rather than actual subscriber migration data. Opensignal specialises in network experience analysis and not market-share tracking, making such claims unreliable.

Additionally, comparing a low-cost carrier like Simba to StarHub’s flagship brand, while excluding StarHub’s mobile virtual network operators and flanker brands, does not reflect the broader competitive landscape as this approach disregards StarHub’s multi-brand strategy, which serves diverse customer segments ranging from price-sensitive users to more premium customers. A more holistic view of StarHub group would present a fairer reflection of market dynamics.