Consistel subsidiary announces bid to be 4th telco, has S$400m funding commitments

CONSISTEL subsidiary OMGtel formally announced on Thursday that it is in the race to become Singapore's fourth telco. The company has appointed the former president and CEO of Lenovo, Bill Amelio, as the new CEO.

It has also appointed OCBC Bank as its financial adviser.

Masoud Bassiri, chairman of Consistel, said that the company has already secured commitments to around S$400 million of funding out of the S$1 billion that it is looking to raise before the spectrum auction in the third quarter of this year.

Regarding funding, Mr Bassiri said the company is confident of getting commitments for the rest of the money by June this year. It is looking at a mix of funding options, from term loans to equity funding. OCBC, at its financial adviser, is assisting OMGtel in this regard, he added.

Mr Bassiri said the company's mission is to "bring exceptional technology to the people of Singapore for a telco experience that is second to none". He also noted that OMGtel's objective is to be among the top two telcos in Singapore.

While he refused to reveal his company's strategy, including pricing models, Mr Bassiri said: "We have a long history in the deployment of mobile technology and it is this experience we are bringing in our mobile operator license bid."

Mr Amelio said the Singapore market has a competitive environment that is not driving meaningful innovation to consumers. He added that this may be due in part to legacy infrastructure, "but it also seems that the existing service providers haven't been challenged to look beyond their existing models".

"I firmly believe that this is why IDA has made the decision to open the market to another telco," Mr Amelio added.