SINGAPORE – 19 MAR 1997
The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) will license up to two more public cellular mobile telephone services (PCMTS) operators from 1 April 2000. This was announced by Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for ...
The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) will license up to two more public cellular mobile telephone services (PCMTS) operators from 1 April 2000. This was announced by Mr Mah Bow Tan, Minister for Communications, at the opening of the 19th International Computers & Communications (IC&C) Business Summit where he revealed the Government's intention to further liberalise the PCMTS market.
As in the previous exercise in 1995, when TAS selected one more PCMTS operator, the award of these new licence(s) will be by public tender. The actual number of licences to be awarded will depend on the quality and the attractiveness of the tenderers' proposals. Direct foreign equity participation of up to 49% will be accepted.
The PCMTS licence(s) will be valid for a period of 17 years from 1 April 2000 and will expire on 31 March 2017. This is the same date as that of the two current operators, SingTel Mobile and MobileOne.
The Government will fix the licence fees. There will be an initial one-time licence fee of S$1 million. In addition, there will be an annual recurrent licence fee set at 6% for the first S$250 million, 9% for the next S$250 million and 12% for that which exceeds S$500 million of the licensee's audited gross turn-over (AGTO). The licence fee is subject to a minimum of S$0.5 million, S$1.5 million and S$2.5 million for the first three consecutive years of operations respectively. These terms are similarly applied to the two current operators.
With the licence fees set upfront, tenderers can focus their efforts on putting up their best offers in terms of the facilities and services they can provide. The licence fees will not be the determining criterion for selection.
TAS will open the public tender exercise for the new PCMTS operator(s) by November 1997. Interested parties will be given three months to prepare their tender proposals which should demonstrate their technical and financial capabilities to compete effectively in the PCMTS market in Singapore.
Parties tendering for the public basic telecommunication services (PBTS) licence(s) can also bid for the PCMTS licence(s) if they are interested in offering these services. The results of the PCMTS tender are expected to be announced by mid-1998 to provide the successful licensee(s) with at least 18 months to build, roll-out and test their networks and services for the commencement of commercial services from 1 April 2000.
The time schedule for the PCMTS tender has been synchronised with that for the PBTS main tender exercise to allow for integrated network roll-out for successful tenderers who hold both licences or for standalone licensees to coordinate their roll-out. The results of both tenders will be announced at the same time.
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