SINGAPORE, 4 December 2008 - Parents will have greater peace of mind when M1 launches a new service next week that will provide children with a safer environment to use mobile phones.

Called KidSAFE, this innovative service, a world first, will allow parents to decide who their children can communicate with on their mobile phones. It takes away the risk of children talking to strangers or falling prey to mobile scams.

Available from 9 December, KidSAFE will allow parents to programme up to 40 phone numbers that their children can make and receive calls from. This will also apply to the sending and receiving of SMS messages. For added security, this programme and other KidSAFE features can only be changed with a 6-digit PIN number. Another useful feature allows parents to monitor unauthorized calls and SMS that have been sent or received by listing the date and time of the 10 most recently blocked numbers. They can also choose to be alerted via SMS when the KidSAFE SIM card is taken out and used in another mobile phone.

With KidSAFE, parents can have some control over the types of content that their children are viewing and downloading on their mobile phones. As Internet access is not available to KidSAFE users, it also eliminates exposure to another potential source of objectionable content.

Furthermore, the controlled access on phones also means that parents will not have to worry about paying the hefty bills that their children chalk up when they access chargeable mobile services, such as dialing 1900 premium numbers, unknowingly.

"With more children starting to use mobile phones at a younger age, we hope parents will find KidSAFE useful and timely in addressing some of their security and safety concerns. It is also an excellent tool for parents to teach their children responsibility in using the mobile phone," said P. Subramaniam, Chief Marketing Officer, M1.

KidSAFE will be available as a free value-added service to M1 SunShare Plan customers and will be compatible only on the Samsung SGH-E200 during launch. Customers will be issued with a pre-installed kidSAFE SIM card when they sign up for this service.

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 leader in personal voice, business and data communications, focusing on value, quality and customer service. More information on M1 is available at www.m1.com.sg