Singapore Telecommunications Limited, trading as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, the country's principal fixed-line operator and one of the four major mobile network operators operating in the country.
Overview
The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with 4.5 million subscribers and through subsidiaries, has a combined mobile subscriber base of 800 million customers as of 31 March 2025.[4] The company was known as Singapore Telecom until 1992. Singtel provides ISP, IPTV (Singtel TV) and mobile phone networks[5] and fixed line telephony services.
Singtel has expanded aggressively outside its home market and owns shares in many regional operators, including full ownership of Australia's second largest telco Optus and 27.5% of Bharti Airtel, the second largest carrier in India.[6]
Singtel controls significant market share in Australia and Singapore, with 82% of the fixed-line market, 47% of the mobile market and 43% of the broadband market in Singapore.[7] Singtel is also the second-largest company by market capitalisation listed on the Singapore Exchange[8] and is majority owned by Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government.[9] Singtel is an active investor in innovation companies through its Singtel Innov8 subsidiary, founded in 2011 with sgd200000000 start up capital.
History
Pre-1970s
In 1882, Singapore's phone network was operated by the Oriental Telephone and Electric Company (OTEC), which setup a branch in July 1882. The Public Telephone Exchange set up 60 telephone lines connecting local businesses of that era.[10] In 1907, OTEC was replaced by a new Central Telephone Exchange in Hill Street.[10] The Singapore Telephone Board (STB) was incorporated as a statutory board with exclusive rights to operate telephone service within Singapore in 1955.[11]
1970s-2000s
On 1 April 1974, STB was merged with Telecommunications Authority of Singapore (TAS, Telecoms or Singapore Telecom). Before 1974, STB was responsible for local services, while TAS provided international services.[11]
Network and infrastructure
Singtel's international submarine cable network provides connections from Singapore to more than 100 countries. It is a major investor in many of the world's submarine cable systems, such as South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 3 Cable Network, South-East Asia – Middle East – Western Europe 4 Cable Network, APCN 2, China-US, Japan-US, Southern Cross Cable and Unity (cable system). Unity Cable Network was commissioned in March 2010.
In January 2010, Singtel announced it had signed an agreement to join a consortium to build and operate the new SJC (cable system) system (SJC). The construction of the SJC cable system started in April 2011 and became operational in June 2013. The SJC has a length of 8,900 km which could extend up to 9,700 km linking up to seven countries or territories. The SJC is connected with the Unity Cable Network and is designed to deliver the lowest latency connectivity between Asia and the US, specifically from Singapore to Los Angeles.
As of fourth quarter of 2014, Singtel Mobile's 4G outdoor coverage was at 99.41%, ranked first followed by M1's 99.04%, and Starhub's 98.85%.[49]
Singtel signed a partnership with NETSTARS, (a Tokyo-based mobile payment technology company) in March 2019. This will allow travelers to use their home mobile wallets on Singtel's VIA network to pay digitally at stores in Japan.[50]
Products and Services
Fixedline and Broadband
Singtel is the principal fixedline and broadband services provider of Singapore, having 0.7 million customers as of March 2025[51], and a market share of 45.8%.[52]
Mobile services
Singtel is the largest mobile services provider in Singapore, having 4.5 million customers and a 44.6% market share as of March 2025.[51]
Singtel TV
Singtel TV (formerly known as Singtel IPTV and mio TV) is a pay television service provided by Singtel
Key operating companies
The Singtel group of companies includes subsidiaries, associated companies, as well as shareholdings in overseas entities. Its mainstay is in the mobile phone industry, where it has a total subscription base of 638 million as of 31 March 2017:[53]
Regional mobile subsidiaries
Mobile
- Singtel Mobile Singapore Pte Ltd – operation and provision of cellular mobile telecommunications systems and services, resale of fixed line and broadband services
- Optus Mobile Pty Limited – provision of mobile phone services
- Virgin Mobile (Australia) Pty Limited – provision of mobile phone services, wholly own subsidiary of Optus
ICT
Incidents
Bukit Panjang Exchange fire
On 9 October 2013, a fire broke out at one of Singtel's major Internet exchanges at Bukit Panjang.[62] The fire started at around 2 p.m. Firemen from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) responded to the emergency call placed at 2.16pm and extinguished the fires in 20 minutes.[62] After SCDF had cleared the building for access at 6pm, Singtel started repairing the damaged cable infrastructure.[62] The repairs was initially assessed to be done by 10 October 2013, 7am with 33 cables of fibre strands requiring repairs. However, the repairs was slower than expected as it was difficult to identify the affected cables as visual indicators such as colour coding on the cables were rendered unusable and 116 other fibre cables required repairs as well.[63] Connectivity to affected customers was progressively restored as the repairs stretched into the evening.[63]
External links
References
- SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED (199201624D) - Singapore Business Directory SGPBusiness.com, retrieved 28 January 2021^
- SGX Announcement- Change of Registered Office Address Singtel, April 22, 2024, retrieved November 13, 2025^
- Subsidiaries companies of SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LIMITED