Singapore broadband upstart MyRepublic has firmed up its plans to become the country’s fourth telco, promising to offer consumers more generous data bundles.
If successful, MyRepublic, which will bid in the next 4G spectrum auction, said it will build its network using small cells that promise improved coverage, plus offer data plans starting from 10GB per month.
MyRepublic’s Singapore managing director Yap Yong Teck said: “10GB or 12GB data plans should not be the premium, but the norm. Customers should not have to worry about data limits.”
The company, which launched Singapore’s first S$49.99/month 1Gbps fibre broadband plan, said it would also support net neutrality principles by promising not to charge over-the-top (OTT) providers for services like WhatsApp.
“We also support choice, so we will also support MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators) in Singapore so people can choose the products and services that they want,” said Yap, a former M1 executive who led the telco’s mobile and fixed broadband business.
At a media briefing today, MyRepublic CEO Malcolm Rodrigues also revealed targets that the broadband provider wants to achieve in the rollout of its mobile network.
For one thing, it wants to raise the average mobile broadband speeds in Singapore from 4.3Mbps to 20Mbps.
It also hopes to establish national roaming agreements with other telcos, while it builds up between 12,000 and 15,000 cellular sites that could potentially tap on power and connectivity provided by Above Ground boxes.
MyRepublic has also submitted a proposal to take part in the Infocomm Development Authority’s heterogeneous network (HetNet) trial to test technologies that allow consumers to switch seamlessly between Wi-Fi and cellular networks.
Special handsets that work with the 2.3GHz and 2.5Ghz spectrums for the HetNet trial will be provided to about 1,000 participants, it said.
Meanwhile, MyRepublic announced that it will offer a free two-month trial of its 1Gbps fibre broadband service from tomorrow till April 30.
I truly hope this will break the telco oligopoly. Even better, true competition law should be passed in Singapore to return ownership of infrastructure to the people and break the decades-old “tradition” of SingTel holding the keys to international communication.
To wake up/punish the current Telcos for being so expensive with data, I will be the first to sign up!