Mobile phone users switching services at record rates amid frenzy of special prices, offers

Price-slashing and special offers are driving mobile phone users to switch networks at the rate of 143,000 customers a month - almost 50 per cent more than during last year's frenzied start to network-swapping.

Monthly tariffs have dropped to less than half what they were two years ago and networks are offering everything from free messaging or even radio plays on demand to lure customers in a fiercely competitive market.

The latest official figures show that in August, 142,940 mobile users switched from one network to another - the highest number recorded since a system allowing customers to swap and keep their phone numbers started in March last year.

Back then, the six mobile companies gave away cup noodles, free talk time and lunch boxes to customers opting to switch, prompting 98,155 users - considered a stampede at the time - to swap networks in the first month.

The industry watchdog believes customers are shopping around for the best deals and that some are swapping networks as often as once a month.

'We have to cut prices and provide more choices to the consumers. It's a battlefield,' Sunday spokesman Mark Chan said yesterday. 'Competition is still very fierce. There are more value-added services - now we have WAP [Wireless Application Protocol phone access to the Internet] - so it's another new market and everyone has new offers.'