Data is king, RIP voice calls

WITH the current reporting season over, a look at the performance of the three Singapore telcos for the quarter ended Sept 30 shows the same pattern that has been visible over the past several quarters. Voice calls are down drastically while data-intensive services provided through fibre broadband and new business lines like enterprise and cybersecurity are growing.

The telecommunications industry is being disrupted by technological changes that have lowered barriers of entry. Various international OTT (over the top) service providers, like WhatsApp and Skype in messaging and voice calls and content distributors like Netflix, are now competing directly with the three telcos by, ironically, using the latter's fibre broadband infrastructure.

Now, here's the interesting part. Despite what would be construed as a challenging business environment, it is almost certain that Singapore will get a fourth telco operator next year. Earlier this month, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) gave the go-ahead to two companies - local fibre broadband services provider MyRepublic and Australian company TPG Telecom - to bid for new spectrum that has been reserved for Singapore's fourth telco, at an auction later this year.