Hoy Say Liao ! MyRepublic to bid in next 4G spectrum auction as plans to be 4th Telco

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Source

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/....html?cid=FBSG

SINGAPORE: Internet service provider MyRepublic on Wednesday (Mar 18) firmed up its plans to become the Republic's fourth telco by declaring it would bid in the next 4G spectrum auction.

MyRepublic Managing Director Yap Yong Teck said: "Mobility is something we are seriously looking into and we will be putting in a bid in the next 4G spectrum auction. We have had discussions with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) on how to best facilitate a new 4th telco and they have been very open to feedback."

When contacted, IDA said no dates have been set aside for the next spectrum auction.

However, a tranche of spectrum licences will be expiring on Mar 31, 2017, according to IDA's website, and an auction will have to be carried out before these licenses expire. The country's first 4G spectrum auction was conducted in January 2013, which was between two and four years before the telcos could actually utilise the bandwidth they had bid for successfully.

The 2013 auction yielded no new entrants to the market, despite IDA setting aside 40 MHz of spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band for interested parties. The three local telcos subsequently received the following spectrum rights :

M1 got 80 MHz of spectrum at S$104 million
SingTel got 100 MHz of spectrum at S$136 million
StarHub got 90 MHz of spectrum at S$120 million

LARGER DATA BUNDLES SHOULD BE "A NORM"

Besides declaring its intent to join the telco fray, MyRepublic also expressed its desire to return to the days of "much larger and more generous data bundles", including offering unlimited mobile data plans.

"Data plans of 10GB or 12GB should not be a premium, but the norm," said Mr Yap. "It can most certainly be done and it should be done. Data is not an add-on. Mobile data is mobility."

The ISP added it supports Net neutrality principles and promised not to charge users for over-the-top applications and services such as WhatsApp and Netflix.

Additionally, it announced that it has made a "serious bid" to participate in IDA's Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) trial. If successful, the telco would provide full mobile services over a designated area, it said.

FREE 1GBPS TRIAL OFFER

In terms of its fibre internet services, MyRepublic CEO Malcolm Rodrigues said the company will be offering a 1Gbps free trial in order to get Singaporeans on the high-speed broadband bandwagon.

"For Singapore to do better, we need more people to get the best broadband experience, and we believe that is 1Gbps," said Mr Rodrigues. "Access is why we developed the 1Gbps Free Trial: we want to remove all as many barriers as we can. We believe that once Singaporeans try 1Gbps, they won’t want to go back."

The trial is for two months, with a waiver of all service installation charges and termination fees within that time. Those who choose to continue can do so on a 22-month contract at S$49.99 per month. Consumers will have to put down a S$50 equipment deposit, which will be returned after a trial period.

The trial begins on Mar 19, the company said.


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