Singapore, 14 March 2000 -- The investment by StarHub in the telecommunications infrastructure of Singapore is an exciting and historic development. While the rules governing the market have recently changed, StarHub remains committed to providing a full range of info-comm choices.
Make no mistake about it, the residential customer is still very important to StarHub. Each residential customer, will have access to mobile phone services and IDD calling on our 008 service starting immediately upon on our April 1st launch. Customers do not need to be connected to StarHub cables to reach our high quality IDD 008 service and international network. They can keep their existing local phone service and need only to register with StarHub -- a simple first step, with no obligation, that allows for smooth access to our IDD service after April 1.
We also are providing a full range of mobile services to all Singaporeans. And of course, StarHub Internet has already registered a total of more than 200,000 Internet customers. In the future, we would like to offer StarHub broadband services to residential customers. We may choose to use SingTel’s wires into the home and/or SCV’s network. Also, we believe that there will be some interesting wireless technology options in the future.
For the corporate and business sector, we have already placed most of the optic fiber cable to directly serve their full info-communications needs. StarHub will be providing them a full suite of services including fixed network and wireless services, dedicated private circuits and virtual private circuits, voice and data public switched services, broadband and narrowband services, and domestic and international services.
All the fixed network services are provided on a fault tolerant, optic fiber based system, which allows rapid adoption of any future networking technologies. We are also integrating our wireless and fixed switching fabric on a converged intelligent network platform provided by Nokia.
In short, StarHub will be an aggressive and dynamic competitor throughout the market. We urge consumers to watch for our announcements as services are rolled out, learn more about how to exercise their right to choose, and contact us with their questions or comments. Meanwhile, as any ongoing negotiations with government authorities or other players in the market unfold, StarHub will comment further only at such times when developments warrant. StarHub has invested a substantial amount in infrastructure, and plans to continue investing in the fully liberalized market. These investments, coupled with our service credo to deliver a unique and satisfying customer experience, underpins our commitment to bring fresh and innovative services to Singapore.
