Singtel


Singapore Telecommunications Limited, trading as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, the country's principal fixed-line operator and one of the four major mobile network operators operating in the country.

Overview

The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with 4.5 million subscribers and through subsidiaries, has a combined mobile subscriber base of 800 million customers as of 31 March 2025. The company was known as Singapore Telecom until 1992. Singtel provides ISP, IPTV and mobile phone networks and fixed line telephony services.
Singtel has expanded aggressively outside its home market and owns shares in many regional operators, including full ownership of Australia's second largest telco Optus and 27.5% of Bharti Airtel, the second largest carrier in India.
Singtel controls significant market share in Australia and Singapore, with 82% of the fixed-line market, 47% of the mobile market and 43% of the broadband market in Singapore. Singtel is also the second-largest company by market capitalisation listed on the Singapore Exchange and is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government. Singtel is an active investor in innovation companies through its Singtel Innov8 subsidiary, founded in 2011 with start up capital.

History

1800s

  • 1883: Singapore's phone network was operated by the Oriental Telephone and Electric Company. The Public Telephone Exchange set up 60 telephone lines connecting local businesses of that era.

    1900s

  • 1907: OTEC was replaced by a new Central Telephone Exchange in Hill Street
  • 1955: The Singapore Telephone Board is incorporated as a statutory board with exclusive rights to operate telephone service within Singapore.
  • 1 April 1974: Merger of STB into Telecommunications Authority of Singapore. Before 1974, STB was responsible for local services, while TAS provided international services.
  • 1982: Merger of the Postal Department into Singapore Telecom.
  • 1992: Singapore Telecommunications Private Limited is incorporated in March as a separate company. The remainder of Telecoms became Singapore Post Private Limited and a smaller Telecommunications Authority of Singapore.
  • 1992: SingTel introduces the call zone service, made defunct in 1997.
  • October 1993: SingTel became a public company via an IPO.
  • 1997 SingTel was compensated $1.5 billion by the Singaporean Government for early termination of its monopoly, based on projected earnings lost between 2000 and 2007 due to its loss of monopoly.

    2000s

  • In 2000, SingTel lost its domestic monopoly in Singapore, with the government deregulating the telecommunications industry.
  • 2001: SingTel is awarded a 3G licence in April.
  • In March 2001, Singtel purchased Optus for between $7.4 billion to $8.5 billion
  • 2003: SingTel sells 60% of Singapore Post in May during an IPO in an effort to focus on its core telecommunications services business.
  • 2003: SingTel divested its stakes in Yellow Pages in June, its directory business to CVC Asia Pacific and J.P. Morgan Partners Asia for.
  • 2003: SingTel announced that it has appointed Ericsson as the vendor for its 3G network in Singapore in July.
  • 2005: SingTel launches its commercial 3G services in February.
  • 2007: mio TV was launched commercially on 20 July 2007 and began its services on 21 July 2007.
  • 2007: SingTel Generation mio was launched commercially on 9 January 2007 and began its services on 21 January 2007
  • 2008: SingTel and Apple jointly announced that SingTel will be the first mobile operator to launch the iPhone 3G and its services to Singapore in June.
  • In the month of June, SingTel becomes the title sponsor of the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix in Singapore.
  • On 10 July 2009, SingTel launched the iPhone 3GS commercially in Singapore.

    2011–2014

  • In May 2011, SingTel announced that they will be aiming to double the size of its satellite business, with two additional launches by 2013.
  • In November 2011, SingTel launched Singapore's first e-book provider, Skoob, which was available through the web, iOS or Android.
  • 2012: SingTel acquired mobile advertising technology company Amobee in March 2012 for $321 million.
  • 2012: SingTel secured broadcast rights for the 2012 Summer Olympics and provided 15 new ESPN STAR Sports channels free of charge to its mio TV Services.
  • 2012: SingTel was fined $300,000 for breaches of the Service Resiliency Code by the IDA.
  • Since December 2012, SingTel started providing 4G LTE services across Singapore.
  • Since 1 August 2013, mio TV was officially renamed SingTel TV.
  • In 2013 SingTel announced the sale of its entire 30% stake in Warid Telecom Limited to Warid Telecom Pakistan LLC which took place on 15 March 2013
  • In 2013 SingTel was fined $180,000 for the disruption of its mio TV service where 115,000 subscribers were affected while watching the Premier League games. The problems included screen freezing, blurred images and picture distortion that happened on 13 May 2012 from 10:15 pm. Full service quality was resumed at 12:15 am the next day.
  • In late 2013, SingTel shutdown its Skoob e-book store.
  • In 2014 SingTel was fined $6 million for its Bukit Panjang fire in the previous year. This is the highest fine imposed on a telco in Singapore.
  • In August 2014, SingTel announced it was joining forces with five other global companies, including Google, to build a super-fast undersea data cable linking the U.S. and Japan.
  • In 2014 Bharti Airtel became first telecommunication company to serve 4G internet in India.

    2015–2019

  • On 21 January 2015, Singtel launched its new brand identity, the first in 16 years.
  • On 19 March 2015, Singtel dismissed all connections with social media agency, Gushcloud. This is after a Singapore blogger Xiaxue, exposed Gushcloud's brief to its "influencers" to execute a negative campaign on M1 and Starhub, both who are direct competitors. Singtel apologised to both companies for the campaign.
  • On 7 April 2015, Singtel revealed it would be acquiring US cyber security firm Trustwave for $810 million, its largest ever acquisition outside the telecoms sector.
  • On 22 April 2015, the Singtel announced plans to delist from the Australian Securities Exchange due to low trading volumes.
  • In April 2015, Singtel released a new Skype and WhatsApp competitor called Wavee. It allows users to make voice and video calls and send instant messages.
  • In May 2015, Singtel was issued a 'stern warning' by Infocomm Development Authority for a negative marketing campaign against its competitors: M1 Limited and Starhub through a marketing agency, Gushcloud. Singtel was required to "ensure appropriate management oversight and control over its marketing and advertising campaigns".
  • On 11 April 2017, it was reported that Synack had raised $21 million from Microsoft Ventures, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Singtel.
  • On 18 January 2019, Singtel was listed in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the first time in recognition of gender equality.

    2020–present

  • In March 2020, Singtel announced a US$30 million investment in a new joint venture by Singtel, Thai Telco and South Korea's SK Telecom in a gaming company called .
  • On 1 October 2020, Singtel announced the appointment of Yuen Kuan Moon as group CEO to replace current chief Chua Sock Koong after her retirement in January 2021.
  • On 4 December 2020, it was announced that the Singtel and ride-hailing firm Grab consortium had been awarded a digital banking licence and would start operating in 2022.
  • On 10 June 2022, three employees of Amobee's email marketing division were convicted of federal crimes related to illegally spamming through hijacked IP addresses.
  • In October 2024, Singtel unveiled RE:AI, a cloud service that aimed to make AI technologies widely accessible to organisations.

    Network and infrastructure

Singtel's international submarine cable network provides connections from Singapore to more than 100 countries. It is a major investor in many of the world's submarine cable systems, such as South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 3 Cable Network, South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 4 Cable Network, APCN 2, China-US, Japan-US, Southern Cross Cable and Unity. Unity Cable Network was commissioned in March 2010.
In January 2010, Singtel announced it had signed an agreement to join a consortium to build and operate the new SJC system. The construction of the SJC cable system started in April 2011 and became operational in June 2013. The SJC has a length of 8,900 km which could extend up to 9,700 km linking up to seven countries or territories. The SJC is connected with the Unity Cable Network and is designed to deliver the lowest latency connectivity between Asia and the US, specifically from Singapore to Los Angeles.
As of fourth quarter of 2014, Singtel Mobile's 4G outdoor coverage was at 99.41%, ranked first followed by M1's 99.04%, and Starhub's 98.85%.
Singtel signed a partnership with NETSTARS, in March 2019. This will allow travelers to use their home mobile wallets on Singtel's VIA network to pay digitally at stores in Japan.

Singtel's mobile network in Singapore

Key operating companies

The Singtel group of companies includes subsidiaries, associated companies, as well as shareholdings in overseas entities. Its mainstay is in the mobile phone industry, where it has a total subscription base of 638 million as of 31 March 2017:

Regional mobile subsidiaries

Mobile

  • Singtel Mobile Singapore Pte Ltd – operation and provision of cellular mobile telecommunications systems and services, resale of fixed line and broadband services
  • Optus Mobile Pty Limited – provision of mobile phone services
  • *Virgin Mobile Pty Limited – provision of mobile phone services, wholly own subsidiary of Optus