Singtel to enjoy highest ARPU of US$ 46.41/month in 2010 (Singapore)

The mobile market in Singapore is characterised by its energy and innovation. Even when growth appears to have slowed somewhat, there is still a considerable effort going into VAS. The market had initially approached the launch of 3G with a degree of caution. As the licences were issued and the networks rolled out, some of the major operators and, to some extent, the government were circumspect about the prospect of next generation of mobiles. However, once the networks were launched and the customers starting signing up (more than 1.8 million by early 2008), there was a marked lift in enthusiasm for 3G.

The energy of the mobile market in Singapore is reflected in the character of its three major operators – SingTel, StarHub and M1. There is strong competition between these three operators. StarHub, which had the lowest market share, has been growing strongly, catching up and passing M1. With the slowing in overall subscriber growth, considerable effort had gone into value-added products and services. All three operators were awarded 3G licences in mid-2001 and launched services in the first half of 2005, having met the mandatory launch of pilot services by end-2004.

Singtel has added 182,000 new subscribers in Q4 of FY08, taking the total to 2.75 million.The company, due to a strong presence in the foreign worker segment, prepaid customers grew 151,000, to 1.34 million.

Singtel is now having 961,000 3G mobile subscribers, representing 68% of its total postpaid base and may start selling Apple iPhone 3G in Singapore, in early September.

StarHub ended June with 1.8 million mobile subscribers, up 10% on the previous quarter.

Notable highlights of the Singapore Mobile market profile include:

The level of wireless penetration in Singapore will continue to increase over the next several years and it will reach 128.8% in 2010. This implies an increase in the number of total subscribers from 5.8 million in 2008 to 6.4 million in 2010.

It is expected that the market shares of the three operators in the country – SingTel, Mobile One and StarHub – to remain roughly the same over the next few years. It is predicted that the market shares of SingTel, Mobile One and StarHub to be 41.5%, 26.2% and 32.2% respectively in 2010.