M1 CLOSES SINGAPORE CDMA NETWORK
MK - No surprise there then. Are Qcommers, still scratching their heads? It is not exactly all about spectrum issues.
www.telecomtv.com
Singapore’s MobileOne will close
down southeast Asia’s highest-profile
cdmaOne network this
Sunday, 30 September, after a success-ful
migration program saw as many as
50,000 users transferred to its GSM
network.
M1 transferred most of the cus-tomers
in August, leaving less than
5,000 to be transferred over the past
three weeks.
The network was closed down as a
result of Infocomm Development
Authority spectrum policy, which saw
M1’s 1.8GHz allocation withdrawn for
re-allocation for 3G use.
However, despite the network’s suc-cess
in achieving high quality-of-service
ratings, it never proved a hit with the
public, garnering no more than 54,000
subscribers in a market that now
exceeds 3 million. CdmaOne customers
affected by the closure were offered
free handsets, free access to GSM-only
services such as email and WAP infor-mation,
and the continuation of their
cdmaOne tariffs, the cheapest in the
market.
The closure comes as Singapore’s
mobile market growth has begun to
slow. Net additions dropped to 36,000
in July and 59,000 in August, after
monthly growth of over 100,000 was
recorded earlier this year. Penetration is
now nearly 77%.
International minutes, fixed lines and
Internet service subscribers are now flat,
while paging numbers are dropping fast.
Singapore’s economy is now technically
in recession. |
