2018 Singapore - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Singapore’s Mobile Market Set for Heightened Competition

Singapore has developed the status of a world leader in telecommunications through the building of a high-quality network and an extremely progressive regulatory environment for the local telecommunications sector.

The Next Generation Broadband Network (NGNBN) roll out and deployment in Singapore has effectively been completed and there continues rapid take-up of fibre-based services.

Singapore has been working to shape itself into what it says will be the world’s first ‘Smart Nation’ where data and analytics play a critical role in its society and economy.

Singapore’s smart nation projects now include smart sensor networks for water and air, smart logistics that enable interoperability standards throughout the supply chain, and smart sensors in the homes of the elderly or chronically ill.

Infocomm Media 2025 is an integrated plan to guide the development of Singapore’s infocomm media sectors over the next 10 years. Singtel via partnerships has spearheaded research and development efforts in emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, data analytics, robotics and the Internet of Things.

Singtel launched its FutureNow Innovation Centre (FIC) to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation. The FIC is a key innovation platform, designed to support the Government’s Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) focusing on Singapore’s six key industry clusters.

The government launched its Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN) over a decade ago and the rollout is now essentially complete. It is based on a combination of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and wireless networks. The NGNBN has continued to form the basis of the government’s broadband strategy and implementation.

Slow growth in the fixed broadband market is predicted over the next five years in a mature and saturated market. Optical fibre broadband also has seen strong growth as customers migrate to the NGNBN’s fibre network. xDSL on the other hand has seen a decrease in usage and cable modem broadband also has been experiencing declining subscriber numbers.

Singapore’s mobile market has displayed slow growth over the last few years due to a highly mature market. It remains highly competitive and operators have moved to a customer satisfaction and retention phase by offering value-added services as the market has matured. Very slow growth is also predicted over the next five years to 2023, due to the highly saturated market.

Competition is now heating up in Singapore’s mobile market with a fourth provider Australian telco TPG Telecom launching mobile services. Also, local ISP MyRepublic launched its mobile services via an MNVO arrangement in partnership with mobile operator Starhub. This is likely to see increased pressure on SingTel, Starhub and M1, potentially triggering another price war.

Singapore saw strong growth in mobile broadband penetration up to 2013, however since then growth has been slow due to a mature and saturated mobile market. A significant proportion of the population now have more than one mobile broadband account. Very slow growth is predicted over the next five years to 2023. The mobile broadband market will be driven by increasingly faster speeds offered by the mobile operators as they roll out their 4G and 5G networks.

Key Developments

• StarHub signed a MoU to co-develop and launch commercial IoT applications/services.
• Singtel launched its FutureNow Innovation Centre (FIC) to help enterprises accelerate their digital transformation.
• Slow growth is predicted in the fixed broadband market to 2023 in a mature and saturated market.
• Both wireless broadband and fibre broadband will continue to be the fastest growing broadband segments.
• Both DSL and cable modem will continue to experience declining subscriber numbers.
• Competition is heating up with a fourth provider TPG Telecom launching mobile services.
• Local ISP MyRepublic launched its mobile services via an MNVO arrangement in partnership with mobile operator Starhub.

Key companies mentioned in this report:

SingTel; StarHub, MobileOne (M1), MyRepublic, TPG (Telecom).