Telco wars: a timeline from a crowded market to consolidations
Much competition has been introduced in the past decade
[SINGAPORE] Developments of telecommunications companies consolidating dominated this week, after many years of speculation.
News broke on Tuesday (Aug 12) of StarHub buying the rest of MyRepublic Broadband for S$105.2 million, a day after Keppel announced the proposed sale of M1’s telco business to Simba.
For many years, Singtel, StarHub and M1 each served about a third of the market as the three full-fledged telcos in Singapore.
In the past decade, however, much competition has been introduced into the market. A fourth telco, TPG Singapore, which would become Simba later, entered the scene in 2016.
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) were also introduced in 2002 with the entry of Virgin Mobile but started becoming more active around a decade ago. They are not full telcos but rather, lease network capacity from the four telcos.
These include brands like Circles.Life and Zero1, among others. Other operators like Singtel’s Gomo and Starhub’s giga! are what are known as “fighter brands”, created specifically to target specific competitors -- in this case, MVNOs. The MVNO market size is estimated to be worth US$502.74 million this year, according to data from research firm Mordor Intelligence.
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With such a crowded market, there has been repeated talk of consolidation through the years.
The increased competition had led to M1 shares, which have since been delisted, losing more than half their value in 2018. As early as 2017, there were reports that M1’s shareholders Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Keppel and Axiata had approached China mobile to sell their majority stake.
Speculation of a merger between StarHub and M1 has also long been talked about, with the possibility being floated last at the end of 2024. That occurred as StarHub and M1 both deferred their spectrum payment.
Here’s a timeline of what has been occurring in the telecommunications industry through the decades.
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