Showing posts with label 5G-Advanced. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5G-Advanced. Show all posts

Thursday, 13 August 2026

Singapore's Telecoms Market Enters Its Next Phase

Singapore has one of the world's most advanced and competitive telecommunications markets. Despite its relatively small geographic area and population of around six million, the city-state consistently ranks among global leaders in mobile connectivity, fibre-broadband adoption and digital infrastructure.

DataReportal, citing GSMA Intelligence, reported that Singapore had 9.79 million cellular mobile connections in late 2025. This was equivalent to 166% of the population estimate used in its methodology. The number of connections fell by approximately 99,000, or 1%, between late 2024 and late 2025, while 99.3% were classified as mobile broadband connections.

Mobile-connection figures should not be confused with the number of individual users. Many people maintain separate personal and business subscriptions, while tablets, connected equipment and other devices may also use cellular connections. eSIM has made it easier for users to maintain multiple services.

Singapore has also completed another important transition. The three operators that previously provided 3G services, Singtel, StarHub and M1, retired those networks during 2024, freeing spectrum and resources for newer technologies. Mobile users are now effectively served through 4G and 5G networks.

A mature four-operator market

Singapore's mobile market continues to be served by four mobile network operators: Singtel, StarHub, M1 and SIMBA.

Competition in such a mature market is increasingly about more than geographic coverage. Pricing, network performance, roaming, digital customer experience, bundled services and the ability to turn network capabilities into higher-value consumer and enterprise offerings are becoming more important.

The operators also report subscriber numbers using different definitions and reporting periods. Some report customers, others subscribers, active services or individual lines. Their published totals therefore should not simply be added together to calculate precise market shares.

Singtel remains Singapore's largest telecommunications operator. At 31 March 2026, it reported approximately 4.50 million mobile customers and 686,000 fixed-broadband lines in Singapore.

Its position is supported by extensive infrastructure, a large consumer base and a broad enterprise portfolio, as well as the wider Singtel Group's operations and investments across Asia.

Singtel is now moving beyond basic 5G deployment towards more differentiated network capabilities. In March 2026, it announced an expanded collaboration with Ericsson around 5G-Advanced. Priorities include commercial end-to-end network slicing backed by service-level agreements, programmable network APIs and greater use of AI in the RAN.

StarHub is one of Singapore's three long-established integrated telecommunications operators and describes itself as having the country's number-two mobile revenue market share.

At 31 March 2026, StarHub reported 2.222 million mobile subscribers and 571,000 broadband subscribers. Its mobile subscriber base increased by 17,000 during the first quarter, although consumer mobile revenue declined year-on-year.

StarHub has progressively repositioned itself beyond conventional mobile and broadband services, with activities spanning enterprise connectivity, managed services, cloud and cybersecurity.

It also continues to increase the scale of its consumer business. On 6 August 2026, StarHub and MyRepublic announced that all MyRepublic 4G subscribers would move onto StarHub's network. MyRepublic's 5G customers were already using StarHub through an existing wholesale arrangement. StarHub linked the move to increasing scale and positioning itself for further consolidation in Singapore's telecommunications market.

StarHub also shares part of its 5G infrastructure with M1 through Antina, their network-sharing joint venture.

M1, majority-owned by Keppel, competes across consumer telecommunications, enterprise connectivity and digital services. It serves more than two million customers and has increasingly emphasised enterprise and industry-focused 5G services.

Its activities include private and dedicated 5G, maritime connectivity, industrial applications, network slicing and edge computing. M1 has also introduced commercial 5G RedCap services for enterprises, targeting IoT applications that do not require the capabilities or cost profile of full-featured 5G devices. 

M1's ownership and strategic direction have, however, become one of the most interesting aspects of Singapore's telecom market in 2026.

SIMBA, formerly TPG Telecom Singapore, is the fourth network operator and has been one of the strongest sources of price competition in the market.

At 31 January 2026, SIMBA reported approximately 1.412 million monthly paid active mobile services, up 13% over the preceding half-year. Its broadband business had also expanded to about 46,000 active services.

SIMBA's growth demonstrates that there is still room for subscriber disruption even in a highly penetrated market. Its challenge now is to translate that growth into a sustainable competitive position as Singapore shifts towards standalone 5G and competitors respond through lower-cost brands, MVNO partnerships and consolidation.

The M1-SIMBA deal collapses, but consolidation remains on the agenda

One of the biggest developments in Singapore telecoms over the past year was SIMBA's proposed acquisition of M1's telecommunications business. The transaction would have significantly reshaped the market, but it did not proceed.

In May 2026, IMDA suspended its assessment of the proposed consolidation after saying it had learnt that SIMBA could have been using radio-frequency bands that had not been assigned to it to provide mobile services. The regulator began investigating the matter.

The acquisition agreement subsequently terminated and the regulatory application was withdrawn. The suspension itself should not be interpreted as a final finding of wrongdoing.

Importantly, the collapse of the transaction has not removed consolidation from the industry's agenda. Keppel said in July that it had established a three-year plan to strengthen M1's profitability and competitiveness and maximise its strategic value in any future industry consolidation. The plan targets S$70 million in annual run-rate cost savings by 2028, with S$10 million targeted by the end of 2026. Keppel continues to include M1 Telco in its non-core portfolio for divestment. 

At the same time, StarHub's decision to bring all MyRepublic mobile subscribers onto its network shows consolidation taking place through network, wholesale and brand arrangements even without a merger between two of the four infrastructure operators.

The structure of Singapore's market therefore remains one to watch.

Singapore moves beyond the initial 5G rollout

Perhaps the clearest sign that Singapore's telecom market has entered a new phase is the transition from simply building 5G coverage to making fuller use of standalone 5G.

By mid-2026, Singapore's operators had achieved nationwide 5G Standalone coverage. The migration away from Non-Standalone architecture, where 5G radio still depends partly on 4G infrastructure, has progressed at different speeds by operator.

StarHub switched off its 5G NSA network on 31 May 2026, while M1 said all its 5G sites were operating on standalone architecture. Singtel still retained a small proportion of customers on the older NSA architecture in late July, even though its nationwide SA network was already well established.

This matters because standalone architecture provides the foundation for capabilities such as network slicing, more flexible service assurance, advanced IoT and increasingly programmable networks. The commercial question is now whether operators can convert those capabilities into services that customers are prepared to pay for.

Independent network measurements show that the operators are not delivering identical experiences. In Opensignal's July 2026 Singapore Mobile Network Experience report, Singtel won the 5G Availability category with users connected to an active 5G signal for 79.9% of the time measured. StarHub recorded 70%, M1 67% and SIMBA 31.4%.

These figures are not measures of geographic coverage. Instead, they indicate how often Opensignal's users with suitable devices and subscriptions were actually connected to 5G. The distinction becomes increasingly important now that headline coverage is no longer enough to differentiate operators.

Private 5G and enterprise connectivity

Enterprise connectivity remains one of the most important potential growth areas for Singapore's operators. Government agencies, operators and technology companies have been testing and deploying private or dedicated 5G solutions in sectors including maritime operations, manufacturing, smart estates, transport and other connected infrastructure.

Potential applications include robotics, automated vehicles, industrial monitoring, remote operations, connected equipment, video analytics and real-time data processing.

M1's introduction of commercial RedCap services and Singtel's push towards commercially enforceable network slicing illustrate how the enterprise proposition is evolving from simply providing private coverage towards differentiated connectivity for particular applications.

However, the challenge remains commercial rather than purely technical. Many private 5G and edge-computing projects remain trials, targeted deployments or industry-specific implementations. Singapore's advanced infrastructure provides an excellent environment for such applications, but operators still need to demonstrate repeatable business cases and sustainable recurring revenues.

Fibre is moving towards 10 Gbps

The next phase is not limited to mobile networks. Singapore is also upgrading its Nationwide Broadband Network to support speeds of up to 10 Gbps. IMDA has committed up to S$100 million to the programme, and more than half a million households are expected to sign up for and benefit from higher speeds by 2028.

Commercial competition has already moved in this direction, with 10 Gbps residential broadband services and Wi-Fi 7 increasingly used in premium packages. SIMBA's entry into fixed broadband has also added another aggressive competitor to this part of the market.

As with 5G, the interesting question is not simply how much speed can be delivered, but which services will make practical use of the additional capacity.

Cybersecurity becomes a strategic telecom issue

Singapore's advanced digital infrastructure also makes the resilience and security of its telecommunications networks particularly important.

In February 2026, Singapore's Cyber Security Agency and IMDA disclosed details of Operation CYBER GUARDIAN, the country's largest coordinated cyber incident response operation to date. The authorities said that advanced persistent threat actor UNC3886 had conducted a deliberate campaign targeting all four major Singapore operators: Singtel, StarHub, M1 and SIMBA.

The operation involved more than 100 cyber defenders across government agencies and the operators and lasted for more than eleven months. UNC3886 obtained unauthorised access to parts of telecom networks and exfiltrated a small amount of primarily network-related technical data. However, the authorities said there was no evidence that sensitive or personal customer records had been accessed or exfiltrated, and no evidence that telecommunications services had been disrupted.

The incident is an important reminder that telecom competition increasingly includes resilience, cybersecurity and operational capability alongside speed, coverage and price.

Smart Nation, AI and the wider digital ecosystem

Singapore's Smart Nation strategy and highly coordinated digital infrastructure policies continue to provide favourable conditions for telecommunications innovation.

The country combines extensive fibre infrastructure, nationwide 5G, major data-centre and cloud operations, subsea cable connectivity, a sophisticated cybersecurity ecosystem and close collaboration between government, operators, technology companies and research institutions.

Operators are increasingly applying AI and machine learning to areas such as network optimisation, predictive maintenance, cybersecurity, fraud detection, customer service and capacity management. At the same time, cloud and edge partnerships allow them to combine connectivity with compute, storage, security and data services.

This changes the role of a telecom operator. The long-term opportunity is not simply to sell another mobile subscription, but to become part of the digital infrastructure used by enterprises to run applications, automate operations and manage data securely. Whether operators capture a meaningful share of that value remains an open question.

Market outlook

Singapore's telecom market is therefore entering a different stage of development.

The initial nationwide 5G rollout is largely complete. The three legacy 3G networks are gone. Standalone 5G is becoming the normal architecture rather than an additional feature. Fibre is moving towards 10 Gbps. The focus is shifting towards 5G-Advanced, network slicing, RedCap, enterprise connectivity, AI-enabled operations, cybersecurity and differentiated digital services. 

At the same time, competitive pressure remains intense. SIMBA continues to grow and compete aggressively on value. StarHub is building scale through its brands, wholesale relationships and MyRepublic. Singtel is using its network leadership to push towards more programmable and differentiated 5G services. Keppel is restructuring M1 while openly keeping future industry consolidation in view. 

The failed SIMBA-M1 transaction therefore may not have been the end of Singapore's consolidation story. It may simply have delayed it.

Singapore's compact geography, regulatory environment and highly developed digital infrastructure make it an unusually useful market in which to observe what happens after nationwide 5G coverage has been achieved.

The next competition will not be about which operator can claim to have 5G. It will be about who can make the most effective commercial use of it.

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Monday, 7 July 2025

China Mobile's PQC Strategy Advances BASIC6 and 6G Security Vision

China Mobile continues to demonstrate a forward-thinking approach to innovation, especially as it prepares for the security demands of future networks. Its recent white paper on post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) migration in telecommunication networks, published through GTI, outlines both the challenges and roadmap for ensuring security resilience in the quantum era. This work aligns strongly with the operator's broader BASIC6 sci-tech innovation strategy, where 6G and security sit alongside big data, AI, integration platforms and computility networks as core pillars of future readiness.

As quantum computing capabilities evolve, current cryptographic systems face a growing threat. The white paper details how quantum algorithms like Shor's and Grover's could undermine widely used encryption and authentication schemes such as RSA, ECDSA and Diffie-Hellman. While symmetric encryption can be strengthened through increased key lengths, public key systems will require fundamental change. This poses a particular concern for telecom networks, where secure identity, signalling integrity and encrypted communication are vital.

The analysis examines vulnerabilities across key network components, including the 5G core, signalling, bearer, transport and synchronisation networks. Each of these relies on a combination of cryptographic mechanisms that will need to be assessed and upgraded to support quantum-resilient algorithms. China Mobile explores how NIST-approved PQC schemes like CRYSTALS-Kyber and Dilithium can be integrated, though this shift brings practical issues such as increased key sizes, protocol field expansion and processing latency.

Migration to PQC in telecom environments is not straightforward. Beyond technical integration, there are questions of industry alignment, certificate management, hardware support and standardisation. China Mobile points out that new certificate formats must accommodate hybrid cryptography while remaining compatible with legacy systems. Moreover, real-time services, especially at the edge, may suffer from the computational overheads of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. This makes algorithm selection critical depending on scenario requirements.

These considerations are closely connected with China Mobile's larger push towards future network architectures. Under the BASIC6 umbrella, the company is laying the groundwork for 6G systems that integrate communications, computing, intelligence and sensing. Their work includes development of testbeds, international standardisation contributions and advanced platforms like the computility network, which is already managing over 60 EFLOPS of computing capacity nationwide. With quantum computing systems, quantum-secure communication prototypes and endogenous security now in place, post-quantum cryptography is a natural continuation of this broader effort.

The operator's leadership in 6G standards within 3GPP and ITU, combined with its role in defining the first global 6G requirements and scenarios, places it in a strong position to shape how PQC becomes a core feature of next-generation mobile infrastructure. Post-quantum security is not just about reacting to a threat. It is a foundational design choice that must be embedded from the outset of 6G network development, supporting trust, resilience and regulatory compliance across use cases.

China Mobile's approach provides a model for how national carriers can combine practical migration planning with strategic innovation goals. PQC integration will require deep collaboration across the ecosystem, from chipmakers and protocol developers to equipment vendors and standards bodies. But for operators aiming to deliver world-class secure information services in the 6G era, these efforts are already becoming a competitive necessity.

This important work builds on several topics already covered in detail on the Free 6G Training Blog, including post-quantum cryptography, quantum network architecture and 6G security. As the quantum age approaches, ensuring that security evolves alongside performance and scalability is one of the most pressing challenges for operators worldwide.

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