The Singapore government is planning to hold a spectrum auction later in 2016 with the aim of licensing a competitor to the three existing operators, Singtel, M1 and StarHub.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald TPG told the Australian Stock Exchange this morning that it has submitted an expression of interest to Singapore’s regulator, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).
The company said: “The auction represents an opportunity to establish innovative and exciting mobile telecommunications products which will support Singapore’s evolving Smart Nation capabilities.”
The IDA is offering two lots of 2×5MHz in the 900MHz spectrum and eight lots of 5MHz in the 2.3MHz spectrum. The spectrum is being auctioned to new entrants only.
TPG faces competition from two local companies, airYotta – a new company – and a fibre operator, MyRepublic, which have also submitted expressions of interest to the IDA.
The auction will take place in two stages this year: new players in the first stage and then a wider auction that will also include existing operators.
In Australia TPG offers nationwide fixed broadband and mobile services, plus business networking services. It has nationwide and metropolitan fibre networks. It owns Pipe Networks, which operates the PPC-1 subsea cable connecting Australia and Guam.