Singapore chosen as first market in Asia First major retailer-owned private brand wireless program in Singapore 7-Connect(TM) Prepaid Program Offers Free Calling Nights and Weekends
DALLAS and SINGAPORE, July 28 // PRNewswire // -- 7-Eleven, Inc., the world's leading convenience store chain, is expanding its proprietary prepaid wireless program to more than 400 7-Eleven(R) stores in Singapore after the success of a similar offering in United States and Canada. The Singapore prepaid wireless program is called 7-Connect(TM) and is based upon the successful 7-Eleven SpeakOut Wireless(R) program in the U.S. and Canada.
7-Eleven has launched its program on the strength of several firsts. The company is the first retailer to debut a company-owned private-brand wireless program in Asia and, more importantly, the first retailer to offer a competitive pre-paid plan with free nights and weekends.
"Our mission has always been to consistently serve the changing needs of our customers for their convenience," said Bob Jenkins, 7-Eleven, Inc. vice president, International. "There is no question that services in general and wireless specifically is a key product offering for us. Especially after the success of our 7-Eleven SpeakOut Wireless offering in North America, we believe the category holds significant promise for future growth both domestically and internationally. From the beginning, Ztar Mobile has enabled us to offer our customers in the US and Canada one of the most competitive prepaid programs in the country."
"7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in Singapore," Victor Chia, CEO of 7-Eleven Singapore. "People shop at 7-Eleven stores for the convenience, so it was important to us from the first day to offer a program with useful features and with the great rates, definitely welcomed by all. Considering that some prepaid plans in Singapore are as much as 16 cents per minute, we believe our customers will really appreciate the great value of the 7-Connect program -- especially the ability to talk for free on nights and weekends."
Developed by Ztar Mobile, Inc. of Dallas, the 7-Connect program uses the 3G network services of M1, one of Singapore's best known mobile service providers.
"M1 has been widely recognized for challenging the status quo in Singapore by continuously offering new and innovative services, plans and one of the most advanced networks on the island," said Neil Montefiore, CEO of M1. "While our company has rapidly grown over the past few years and now serves over 1.6 million customers, the opportunity to provide network support for Singapore's first company-owned private-brand service with such a well-known global convenience retailer is an important milestone for M1. By partnering with Ztar Mobile to launch the 7-Connect program, we have a significant new channel to reach out to another segment of mobile customers."
The 7-Connect prepaid "Free Nights and Weekends" plan is now available at $30 per month and features include:
Kevin Haddad, president of Ztar Mobile, said, "For more than five years, we've been privileged to work with 7-Eleven to perfect its private brand wireless offering -- first in the U.S. and Canada. With the 7-Connect program now in Singapore, we look forward to rapidly expanding the program in additional Asian countries in which 7-Eleven operates.
"We chose to launch first in Singapore because the prepaid wireless business model there has evolved in the last five years, and penetration for prepaid services is rapidly increasing," Haddad added. "As the first prepaid wireless program to offer Singapore consumers free nights and weekends, we expect the 7-Connect program to be a major success."
7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Based in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses approximately 7,600 7-Eleven(R) stores in North America. Globally, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 34,300 stores in 17 countries and territories. During 2007, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of more than $46.6 billion. Named the #1 Franchise Opportunity for 2008 by Entrepreneur magazine, 7-Eleven is franchising virtually all of its stores in the U.S., and is expanding through its Business Conversion Program, acquisitions, building new and leasing existing properties.
M1, Singapore's most exciting and innovative mobile, broadband and IDD service provider, was launched in April 1997. Since then, it has made significant inroads into the local mobile communications market, gaining considerable brand presence and market share. M1 aims to be the market leader in personal voice, business and data communications, focusing on value, quality and customer service. More information on M1 is available at http://www.m1.com.sg.
Based in Dallas, Texas Ztar Mobile, Inc. delivers turnkey wireless solutions that enable clients to deliver private branded wireless services to their customers. Ztar Mobile provides a complete outsourced solution, from airtime to service creation, billing and customer care. For more information, please visit http://www.ztarmobile.com.