SINGAPORE - Keppel will be

selling the telecommunications business of its subsidiary M1

to rival Simba Telecom for $1.43 billion.

The deal marks the first consolidation in Singapore’s telco history following years of liberalisation that saw the lowering of mobile broadband and fixed broadband prices.

Here’s a recap of the changes over the years.

In the 1990s, Singapore’s telecoms industry was dominated by Singtel. Its monopoly status allowed it to grow into one of Singapore’s largest corporations.

Meanwhile, advanced markets in the US and UK were benefiting from better services and lower prices through industry liberalisation.

Setting its sights on becoming Asia’s largest info-communications hub, the Singapore Government decided in 1996 to end Singtel’s monopoly.

Singtel’s licence to be the sole provider in Singapore’s mobile services market had been set to end in 1997, while its monopoly on fixed line and international direct dial (IDD) services, among others, was to end in 2007.

In April 1997, Singapore’s second mobile phone operator M1 entered the market, to much anticipation.

Just a month after its launch, M1 grabbed 10 per cent of the mobile phone market, or 35,000 subscribers, as its mobile phone packages offered better off-peak rates and free air time. 

Shortly after, in April 2000, StarHub burst onto the scene as the nation’s third mobile phone operator. Its free incoming calls and per-second billing for phone calls were a first in Singapore. 

In November 2000, StarHub said it had achieved its first commercial year target of 200,000 mobile subscribers – five months ahead of schedule. 

The introduction of competition brought numerous benefits for consumers, including lower IDD charges and several rounds of price cuts for mobile services. This spurred a surge in mobile phone adoption – from a penetration rate of 13.6 per cent in January 1992, to over 100 per cent by 2006.

For many years, Singapore’s mobile landscape was dominated by three telcos, each serving about a third of the market and with little price differentiation. 

The telcos had focused on locking customers into long-term contracts so they could steadily increase the average revenue per user. There was little motivation to innovate.

In 2015, then regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), decided to entice a fourth telco to operate here to shake up the market. The authority was hoping that more competition could inspire better services and more innovative plans to benefit consumers. 

Simba Telecom, previously known as TPG Singapore, became the city state’s fourth telco in 2016 after winning an airwave auction held by IDA, now known as the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

It took four years to launch its first commercial mobile plan on April 7, 2020. Its first product was a SIM-only plan that offered 50GB of data for $10 monthly – the cheapest in the market.

The operator had piloted a free one-year trial plan in December 2018, which drew more than 400,000 subscribers. 

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At the same time, in 2016, IDA also facilitated the entry of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in Singapore’s telco space. MVNOs lease network capacity from established telcos rather than build their own infrastructure. 

These virtual operators – which include brands such as Circles.Life, Maxx and Gomo – offer some of the most competitive and affordable SIM-only plans to this day.