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Singapore’s operators plead: ‘don’t make us bid’ for more 3G spectrum
Posted By TelecomTV One , 21 July 2010
Bidding wars for 3G spectrum are usually fast and furious in Asia, especially in emerging mobile markets. But how will things pan out in a largely saturated Singapore market? Melissa Chua reports.
In India, the bidding for the country’s new 3G licenses recently came to a close and staggering prices were paid. Meanwhile, over in the Philippines, carriers are currently engaged in lawsuits to try to prevent the country’s regulatory authority from distributing parts of the 3G spectrum based on merit.
Can there ever be an amicable way of settling who gets what, where valuable 3G spectrum is concerned?
In Singapore, the country’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has recently confirmed that it would be putting up for auction a portion of the spectrum that has gone unused for the past nine years. The purpose behind this move, according to the IDA, was to “meet mobile operators’ increased demand for frequency spectrum so as to enhance their 3G system.”
Approximately half of Singapore’s 6.9 million mobile phone users currently use 3G networks, and the IDA’s figures show that 3G subscriptions have increased by more than 25 per cent from September 2008 to September 2009. HSPA subscriptions have also skyrocketed by more 240 per cent.
News of the impending IDA auction was, however, a cause for dismay for the island’s three existing carriers - SingTel, Starhub and MobileOne. Though all three, in separate responses to the IDA, supported the move to make the remaining portion of the spectrum available, the prospect of an upcoming auction did not sit well.
In a paper to the IDA, SingTel had said it felt the ‘best way to ensure efficient use of the remaining 3G spectrum is to administratively allocate it to the existing 3G mobile operators who have made significant investments in 3G network systems and services, have efficiently utilised the existing 3G spectrum and have clear uses for the 3G spectrum to serve existing customer and market needs.”
Unlike the carriers in India who had to partake in a fierce bidding war, Singapore’s three carriers enjoyed a relatively easy time back in 2001 when four lots of spectrum got put up for auction. Each carrier paid aS$100million (US$72.8 million) reserve price per lot. It is the fourth unused lot that will up for bidding come October.
If recent history is anything to go by, a bidding war between the telcos probably wouldn’t benefit users in what is already a fiercely competitive market where every price drop by one operator tends to lead to a similar drop by the others.
In 2009, SingTel clinched the rights to the Barclay’s Premier League ahead of Starhub. That bidding war led to both carriers having to foot and extremely pricey joint bid, in order to bring the 2010 World Cup to the country. The result: consumers in Singapore had to pay at least seven times more for their World Cup subscriptions, while neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia got theirs for free.
So it might be legitimate to question what the IDA is really thinking of by not choosing the allocation method favoured by the three telcos. The government body had said it “seeks to ensure that the spectrum is allocated in a way which makes the most efficient use of this scarce resource to promote innovation in, and growth of a vibrant infocomm industry in Singapore.”
Right now it’s anyone’s guess as to how much money a bidding war might generate. But whatever the sum, it might be better put to work developing the “growth of a vibrant infocomm industry” instead of providing a fiscal bonus for the Singaporean government.
Singapore’s operators plead: ‘don’t make us bid’ for more 3G spectrum
Posted By TelecomTV One , 21 July 2010
Bidding wars for 3G spectrum are usually fast and furious in Asia, especially in emerging mobile markets. But how will things pan out in a largely saturated Singapore market? Melissa Chua reports.
In India, the bidding for the country’s new 3G licenses recently came to a close and staggering prices were paid. Meanwhile, over in the Philippines, carriers are currently engaged in lawsuits to try to prevent the country’s regulatory authority from distributing parts of the 3G spectrum based on merit.
Can there ever be an amicable way of settling who gets what, where valuable 3G spectrum is concerned?
In Singapore, the country’s Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) has recently confirmed that it would be putting up for auction a portion of the spectrum that has gone unused for the past nine years. The purpose behind this move, according to the IDA, was to “meet mobile operators’ increased demand for frequency spectrum so as to enhance their 3G system.”
Approximately half of Singapore’s 6.9 million mobile phone users currently use 3G networks, and the IDA’s figures show that 3G subscriptions have increased by more than 25 per cent from September 2008 to September 2009. HSPA subscriptions have also skyrocketed by more 240 per cent.
News of the impending IDA auction was, however, a cause for dismay for the island’s three existing carriers - SingTel, Starhub and MobileOne. Though all three, in separate responses to the IDA, supported the move to make the remaining portion of the spectrum available, the prospect of an upcoming auction did not sit well.
In a paper to the IDA, SingTel had said it felt the ‘best way to ensure efficient use of the remaining 3G spectrum is to administratively allocate it to the existing 3G mobile operators who have made significant investments in 3G network systems and services, have efficiently utilised the existing 3G spectrum and have clear uses for the 3G spectrum to serve existing customer and market needs.”
Unlike the carriers in India who had to partake in a fierce bidding war, Singapore’s three carriers enjoyed a relatively easy time back in 2001 when four lots of spectrum got put up for auction. Each carrier paid aS$100million (US$72.8 million) reserve price per lot. It is the fourth unused lot that will up for bidding come October.
If recent history is anything to go by, a bidding war between the telcos probably wouldn’t benefit users in what is already a fiercely competitive market where every price drop by one operator tends to lead to a similar drop by the others.
In 2009, SingTel clinched the rights to the Barclay’s Premier League ahead of Starhub. That bidding war led to both carriers having to foot and extremely pricey joint bid, in order to bring the 2010 World Cup to the country. The result: consumers in Singapore had to pay at least seven times more for their World Cup subscriptions, while neighbors Indonesia and Malaysia got theirs for free.
So it might be legitimate to question what the IDA is really thinking of by not choosing the allocation method favoured by the three telcos. The government body had said it “seeks to ensure that the spectrum is allocated in a way which makes the most efficient use of this scarce resource to promote innovation in, and growth of a vibrant infocomm industry in Singapore.”
Right now it’s anyone’s guess as to how much money a bidding war might generate. But whatever the sum, it might be better put to work developing the “growth of a vibrant infocomm industry” instead of providing a fiscal bonus for the Singaporean government.
