Singapore Telecommunications to defend local mobile phone market

Mobile Internet, The, June, 2004

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. Will "aggressively" defend its sagging local mobile phone market share from competition, saying it won't allow its share to fall below 40 percent. The company's executive vice president, Lim Chuan Poh, said the company would take steps to prevent rivals MobileOne Ltd. and StarHub Pte. Ltd. from gaining further ground. "I think 40 percent would be the line where we would be defending aggressively," said Mr. Lim, who is also chief executive of SingTel Mobile. "I would say that at 40 percent we would make a decisive response."

SingTel controls 42 percent of Singapore's 3.5 million mobile phone subscribers, a share that has been declining since the government ended its monopoly in 1997. The comments signify a renewed focus on the domestic mobile phone business coinciding with Mr. Lim's appointment in April, after SingTel spent billions to become the region's dominant telecom company with interests in five markets, including Australia.