7 Oct 2009Singapore Broadband Overview

Singapore has developed an advanced and reliable telecommunications infrastructure, and its government is strongly committed to making Singapore one of the most connected cities in the world. A high-quality, progressive telecommunications regulatory regime has resulted in a richly competitive market, and all restrictions on direct and indirect foreign ownership within the country’s telecom sector have been lifted.

Singapore has a high level of awareness of broadband technology, due in large part to the government’s promotion of the usage of broadband Internet access as part of its Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) master plan. Singapore has also grown to be one of the major global telecommunications hubs in the region. Over the last few years, the country has become a trans-cable hub where regional submarine cable systems and international cable systems interconnect.

Singapore’s ONE project involved the development of a broadband network launched in June 1998 using fibre backbones and a combination of fibre, DSL and cable for last mile access. With full market liberalisation resulting in greater competition, Singaporeans have experienced higher broadband speeds and more competitively priced services, resulting in greater uptake. More than 90 per cent of Singapore households had some form of high-speed broadband Internet access in early 2009 and this is expected to reach close to 100 per cent by 2010.

The industry regulator’s vision of unlimited bandwidth and “supercomputing-on-demand”, accessible anywhere, anytime, is quickly becoming a reality. Singapore has an extensive network of free WiFi hotspots across the island, a seaport WiMAX initiative and an imminent next-generation national broadband network (Next Gen NBN). By September 2009 Singapore residents will begin to see their homes connected to the Next Gen NBN. By 2010, 60 per cent of the roll-out is the target, giving Singapore an open access fibre network with potential speeds of 1 Gbps and above per user.

Singapore Telecom (SingTel), an integrated communications service provider, is the incumbent operator in Singapore. SingTel owns over 99 per cent of the total telephone lines in the country. Although SingTel continues to play a major role in the Singapore telecom sector, liberalisation has seen a host of new operators entering the market, helping to exploit the competitive situation. As a result of strong competition in its own backyard, SingTel decided to expand offshore. In what turned out to be a successful strategy, SingTel established a considerable presence in regional markets. This presence included 100 per cent ownership of Optus, the second ranked mobile operator in Australia.

SingTel’s nationwide broadband service offerings comprise SingTel Magix, SingTel B-access (a wholesale service), SingNet Broadband which offers a Bandwidth-On-Demand service, Wireless@SG, and Broadband on Mobile. SingTel first launched its wholly owned Internet subsidiary SingNet in 1994, and deployed the world’s first commercial broadband service ‘SingTel Magix DSL’ in 1997. In 2002, SingNet revised its DSL product range concentrating on basic Internet access rather than value-added services such as video-on-demand. SingTel also has a majority share in the mobile market.

The main mobile operators are SingTel, MobileOne (M1) and StarHub. Mobile penetration rates passed 100 per cent at the end of 2006. In May 2009, penetration reached 133.8 per cent with 6.47 million subscribers, 2.68 million of which were 3G subscribers. There is strong competition between the three operators, aided by the introduction of MNP in June 2008. StarHub had the lowest market share, but it has been growing steadily, catching up and passing M1. With the slowdown of overall subscriber growth, considerable effort had gone into marketing value-added products and services. All three operators were awarded 3G licences in mid 2001 and launched services in H1 2005.

Of the three mobile operators, SingTel has the greatest market share at May 2009 with 46 per cent. StarHub and M1 trail SingTel at 28 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. At the end of December 2008 Singtel had 1.14 million 3G subscribers out of 2.94 million. By end March 2009 SingTel had 2.98 million subscribers. Starhub ended March 2009 with a subscriber base of 1.82 million, while M1 had 1.62 million subscribers by the same date.

Starhub and M1 focus particularly on the 3G and postpaid markets. M1 was the first operator to introduce mobile broadband services for postpaid subscribers in 2006. In mid April 2009, M1 launched Singapore’s first prepaid mobile broadband service. This service offered unlimited data usage and connection speeds of up to 7.2Mbps islandwide. In May 2009, M1 announced a 5-year contract with Nokia Siemens to upgrade its 2G networks for inroads of high-speed mobile broadband. The move forms a part of a network modernization initiative, which includes the upgrade to an all IP network that will build the foundation for LTE and 4G subsequently. The complete modernization of the network is expected to be completed by 2011.

StarHub is also paving the way for next-generation services with deployment of the world’s first commercial 3G femtocell network, called ‘Home Zone’ in December 2008. The femtocell system enables end-users to access high-speed wireless data service indoors such as streaming video, IPTV, video conferencing and mobile broadband. In the new era of network convergence, femtocell networks help operators to implement a full service operation strategy. These networks have been lauded by industry players as the catalyst for next-generation networks such as LTE. Femtocell networks are also a way for mobile operators to save substantially on network infrastructure costs. In July 2009, StarHub launched a commercial HSPA+ service under the banner Max Mobile Elite. The service offers peak download speeds of 21 Mbps across the entire state.