The lunchtime crowd at Lau Pa Sat were met with a rather unusual sight on Wednesday (2 Sept): men — plus a couple of women — dressed head-to-toe in bright green roaming around with oversized umbrellas in hand. Not exactly something you see at the famed hawker centre every day.
Diners were also treated to unlimited free ice cream, before Zermatt Neo showed up to flex his legendary competitive eating skills by polishing off a massive plate of mee rebus in about an hour.
As it turns out, it was all part of StarHub’s “Get More with 5G+” launch celebrations.
The action began at around 11.30am, when a steady stream of people started trickling towards a booth set up at one of Lau Pa Sat’s entrances.
There, staff were handing out generous scoops of matcha ice cream in cones, completely free of charge, with office workers and tourists alike more than happy to welcome the cooling treat in the middle of a scorching day.
The unlimited giveaway was a sweet nod to StarHub’s Unlimited 5G+ plans, and it did not take long for word to get around. By noon, the queue had grown significantly longer, eventually stretching outside the hawker centre itself.
Helping diners find their way there were StarHub’s “Hublings”, who were impossible to miss against the sea of dark colours and neutrals that usually make up the CBD lunch crowd.
Covered from head to toe in skin-tight bright green mesh bodysuits, the lively group danced and bounced around the area, distributing flyers and directing passers-by towards the ice cream.
They also had another job. Whenever pedestrians crossed the road between Lau Pa Sat and City House, the Hublings would spring into action with oversized umbrellas, forming a line to shield them from the afternoon sun.
In other words, when the green man came on, the other green men got to work. The umbrellas were also a visual play on StarHub’s promise of “more coverage” with their new 5G+ network.
Back inside Lau Pa Sat, the Hublings kept the energy up by fist-bumping and interacting with those in the increasingly long queue, while diners were introduced to StarHub’s 5G+ network after collecting their ice cream.
Just a few steps down from the ice cream booth, Neo was gearing up for a supersized lunch of his own. After all, when the theme is “more”, few people are more fitting than one of Singapore’s most famous competitive eaters, best known for putting away truly ridiculous amounts of food.
At around 12.15pm, he got started on a whopping 9kg serving of mee rebus from Warong Pak Sapari, Stall 58 at Lau Pa Sat.
A large crowd quickly formed around the cordoned-off area, with curious diners stopping to watch Neo work his way through the gargantuan spread, a mountain of noodles, sauce, chicken drumsticks, satay sticks, fried eggs, and more, all piled onto one massive plate.
The challenge was livestreamed on his TikTok page using StarHub’s 5G+ network and quickly drew more than 13,000 viewers by 12.30pm.
About an hour later, Neo had polished off the entire 9kg feast.
Meanwhile, the ice cream operation showed little sign of slowing down. By the end of the activation, around 700 scoops had been served.
Behind the ice cream and lunchtime antics was the launch of StarHub’s 5G+ network, which uses newly deployed 700MHz spectrum.
What this means is that the lower-frequency spectrum can travel more easily through walls and into harder-to-reach areas, giving users stronger coverage in places like office towers, crowded malls, basements, and car parks. In these indoor and underground spots, speeds can also be up to four times faster.
5G+ is available across every StarHub 5G mobile plan, although customers will need a compatible device and network coverage for the service to work.
Existing customers on StarHub 5G plans will get access automatically, while new customers will have 5G+ included as part of their plan from the start.
The rollout is beginning in high-footfall areas around Singapore, including parts of the CBD, Orchard Road, Marina Bay, and the Clarke Quay-Robertson Quay area, as well as selected shopping centres in residential neighbourhoods.
To mark the launch, StarHub is also offering new customers and port-ins 50% off mobile plans for a limited time.
Find out more about StarHub’s 5G+ network and mobile plans here and follow them on Instagram for more updates.
Also read: StarHub’s 2-day wellness festival at New Bahru has free yoga sessions, watercolour workshops & more
This post was brought to you in collaboration with StarHub.
Featured image by MS News. Photography by Shirlynn Koh.