TAS has advertised in the press today to invite suitably qualified parties interested in providing Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Services ("PCMTS") to participate in its public tender. TAS has also concurrently released the tender ...
Singapore, 1 October 1997 | For Immediate Release
TAS has advertised in the press today to invite suitably qualified parties interested in providing Public Cellular Mobile Telephone Services ("PCMTS") to participate in its public tender. TAS has also concurrently released the tender document intended to assist interested parties in preparing their tender submissions.
Currently, SingTel Mobile Pte Ltd and MobileOne (Asia) Pte Ltd are the only two operators licensed to provide PCMTS till 31 March 2000. On 19 March 1997, Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for Communications, announced the Government's intention to further liberalise the PCMTS market by licensing up to two more operators by way of public tender to offer PCMTS to the general public from 1 April 2000. The PCMTS licences will be valid for a period of 17 years from 1 April 2000 till 31 March 2017, the same licence expiry date as that of the two current operators.
As announced earlier by Dr John Chen, Minister of State for Communications on 17 September 97, the PCMTS licence fees consist of an initial one-time licence fee of S$1 million and an annual recurrent licence fee set at one percent of the licensee's audited gross turn-over ("AGTO"). The decision to revise the annual recurrent licence fees for all licensees providing PCMTS and Public Radio Paging Services ("PRPS") to one percent of AGTO from 1 April 2000 was made to enable the existing and new operators to channel more resources towards enhancing services and to reduce costs to consumers.
The PCMTS tender exercise will commence from 1 October 1997. Parties interested in participating in this tender have 3 months to prepare and submit their tender submissions, with detailed technical and commercial plans, to TAS by 31 December 1997.
The number of PCMTS Licence(s) to be awarded will be determined based on the quality and attractiveness of the tender submissions received. TAS has formed a Tender Evaluation Committee ("TEC") comprising members from TAS' Board of Directors and representatives from the relevant Ministries which will oversee the tender exercise and evaluate the tender submissions.
The tenderers participating in the PCMTS tender will be evaluated based on the criteria and their respective weightages listed in Annex 1. Successful tenderers will be awarded the PCMTS licences by mid-1998 to provide the successful licensees with at least 20 months to build, roll-out and test their networks and services for the commencement of commercial services from 1 April 2000.
TAS reserves the right to license additional PCMTS operators through future tender exercise. The timing and number, if any, will depend on market development.
ANNEX 1
| Summary of PCMTs Tender Evaluation Criteria and Corresponding Weightages | ||
|---|---|---|
| No | Criteria | Weightages (No. of Points) |
| 1 | STRATEGIC PLAN | Total: 30 |
| 2 | ORGANISATIONAL STRENGTHS AND FINANCIAL SOUNDNESS -Organisational, Structural and Financial Strengths (8 points) -Soundness of Business, Financial and Funding Plans (8 points) -Relationship Between the Financial Investment and Technical/Network Roll-out Investment Requirements (4 points) |
Total: 20 |
| 3 | SERVICE SCHEMES -Wide Range of Services (40 points) -Higher Quality of Services (40 points) |
Total: 80 |
| 4 | TECHNICAL PLANS AND EXPERTISE -Design/Configuration of Proposed Network (10 points) -Planned Build-up of Network in Conjunction with Projected Subscriber Take-up Rate (10 points) -Experience in Setting Up and Operating Network/System (10 points) |
Total: 30 |
| 5 | USE OF FREQUENCY AND OTHER SCARCE RESOURCES -Optimisation of System Capacity (10 points) -Use of Techniques to Increase System Capacity (10 points) -Optimal Use of Infrastructure and Scarce Resources (10 points) |
Total: 30 |
| 6 | NETWORK IMPROVEMENT PLANS | Total: 10 |
| Total Weightage | 200 | |
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