Singapore, 15 July 2019 – 5G is critical to Singapore’s Smart Nation development, and StarHub is ready to be one of the leading companies to provide 5G services to the government, businesses and consumers. We support IMDA’s Call-for-Proposal approach. A strategy of two independent 5G networks will serve Singapore better, to allow for competition, innovation and service resilience.
We believe more can be done to ensure fair competition, more efficient deployments and vibrant ecosystem development. For fair competition, we are calling for the two spectrum parcels to be made equal. To help accelerate innovation and adoption, we believe spectrum should be granted to operators at minimal or no cost, as high outlay can hinder the progress of 5G in Singapore. We also ask for onerous regulatory obligations on 5G services not to be implemented too soon, to allow for adequate research and development of Singapore use cases.
If spectrum availability proves insufficient, pooling resources to share 5G network infrastructure and spectrum between a number of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) should be an option. A wholesale model will not adequately address the long-term growth requirements of MNOs. Alternatively, equity-based models for both infrastructure and spectrum could be explored.
Today, a portion of StarHub’s mobile network is 5G-ready and we are facilitating 5G trials. In addition, we are applying for the government’s 5G grant in collaboration with enterprise and government clients to develop innovative commercial applications. The new world of 5G is beyond just infrastructure; it is about integrating enterprise customer applications with data analytics and artificial intelligence to serve individual customers better and in more personalised ways than ever before. To this end, StarHub is dedicating resources on its 5G centre of excellence to develop a partner ecosystem and co-create next-generation mobility services that support Singapore’s Smart Nation goals.
