M1 has a nice ring for a China coal mining firm

SINGAPORE'S smallest telecom company has a ringtone loud enough to be heard in a coalmine in China's Shanxi province.

Shanxi Meijin Energy Co is among bidders for M1 Ltd, which has a 24 per cent share of Singapore's wireless market, roughly half of industry leader Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. China Broadband Capital is also in the race, according to a Bloomberg News report on Thursday.

The telecom operator's largest owners - Axiata Group Bhd, Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Ltd and Singapore Press Holdings Ltd - disclosed last month that they had appointed Morgan Stanley to help with a strategic review, including a possible sale. M1, which has a market value of S$2 billion, is on the block because it is the most vulnerable to the impending entry of a fourth player. A unit of Australia's TPG Telecom Ltd won the bid in December to become Singapore's fourth telco.