The Singapore Government has made $1.14 billion from the sale of airwaves to be used for delivering 4G mobile services.
All three existing telcos Singtel, StarHub and M1 and new telco TPG Telecom took part in the General Spectrum Auction, which concluded on Tuesday (April 4). All walked away with at least 10MHz worth of mobile spectrum.
Singtel paid the highest amount, $563.7 million, for 75MHz of spectrum, the largest block awarded. StarHub paid $349.6 million for 60MHz of spectrum, while M1 paid $208 million for 30MHz of spectrum. TPG, on the other hand, was awarded 10MHz of spectrum for $23.8 million.
A total of 175MHz of spectrum in the 700MHz, 900MHz and 2.5GHz spectrum bands, including spectrum to be re-farmed from the provision of 2G services, was made available in the auction. This will allow telcos to roll out or enhance their mobile networks to meet the increasing demand for mobile data services.
"The strong interest in the radio spectrum is testament to the mobile network operators' confidence in the mobile market moving forward," said Mr Tan Kiat How, chief executive of the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
"Increasingly, high-speed mobile services will be critical in delivering the next generation suite of digital services and products to realise Singapore's digital future."
Similar to past spectrum auction proceeds, IMDA plans to use the money to help infocomm media companies go digital.
The winning bidders can start using the spectrum to enhance their networks from July.
Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/4g-spectrum-auction-nets-singapore-government-114b