Singapore - Key Statistics, Telecom Market and Regulatory Overviews

Synopsis

Singapore continues to maintain a strong positive outlook in the country’s telecommunications sector. The island state has built a competitive telecoms market over the past three decades, aided by its geographical location and its excellent infrastructure. It was one of the first countries in the world to have a fully digital telephone network. In 2009 the World Economic Forum (WEF) described Singapore as ‘Asia’s most connected country’, noting that it was leading the region in terms of ICT development. By èarly 2010 mobile penetration had passed 140%, with 3G customers comprising some 47% of the total mobile subscriber base. Singapore’s mobile operators were already looking closely at the Long Term Evolution (LTE) platform for providing faster mobile broadband Internet access into the future. This report looks at the ways in which the telecom sector is growing in Singapore and how it has been assisted in its development by the government’s strong commitment to, and its bold action in the ongoing deregulation of the industry.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Key statistics
• 3. Telecommunications market
  • 3.1 Overview of Singapore’s telecom market
  • 3.2 Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015)
  • 3.3 Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure (Next Gen NII)
• 4. Regulatory environment
  • 4.1 Regulatory authorities
    • 4.1.1 Telecommunications Authority of Singapore (TAS)
    • 4.1.2 Infocomm Development Authority (IDA)
  • 4.2 Regulatory developments
    • 4.2.1 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
    • 4.2.2 Fine-tuning of access regulations
    • 4.2.3 Service contracts
• 5. Related reports

• Table 1 – Country statistics – 2009
• Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2009
• Table 3 – Internet user statistics – 2009
• Table 4 – Broadband statistics – January 2010
• Table 5 – Mobile statistics – January 2010
• Table 6 – National telecommunications authorities
• Table 7 – Fixed-line versus mobile growth – subscribers and penetration – 1998 - 2009

• Exhibit 1 – A snapshot of the Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) project
• Exhibit 2 – Key regulatory and liberalisation developments – 1997 - 2010