... idk why but I feel it's kinda unfair that working adults don't get such deals when they're the 'sandwiched class' that also deserves the cost-cutting that retirees enjoy. just imagine retirees enjoying those massive data plans watching drama videos on their phones... paying peanuts.
no wonder Singaporeans are an unhappy lot.
I think people don't realise retirees today have very little money. Let's simplify to dollars and cents.
It was common for some of the PG to be earning $90-$400 a month. By the time they retired, $3000 was a "high" salary. This was a time when hawker centre food was still $1.50/$2. They paid less, sure, but they also earned less. They were also single-income, often depending on the wife to be homemaker and caregiver. Now, let's say they saved 20% (which is not likely given the cost of school fees etc), each month on a $2500 salary. That's $500/mo, or $6k a year. Working 40y, that's only $240k before they retired some 20+ years ago. This is assuming all that money was saved and no unexpected expenses. Now note that this money did not increase for inflation. They lived with bank interests which were shrinking. They were not equipped for today's cost inflation prices.
Today, they have less than those absolute savings, with no income - because they have had to spend their savings to subsist in Singapore. There are many adults today, "sandwich class", who still give their parents $200-300. And in that interim? Living costs have gone up. Suddenly there's this need for a mobile phone. If you speak to some of these seniors in their 70s (who are MG, not PG), they have less than $100k in savings with no income - some I know have only about 40-50k left in their banks+CPF. Would you still be expecting them to be paying $40 for a plan?
I work in social services - that's why I travel a lot around heartlands and visit clients' flats. I experience poor network connectivity in homes and many blind spots for all our telcos on a daily basis. I see a lot of these bank statements today, and it is heartbreaking. Yes, the sandwich generation struggle to support down and up - but this is a systemic problem that has roots elsewhere. Also, there is much to be said for some of these who are complaining about costs of living but will travel often, etc etc...