Singapore’s IDA has failed in its bid to add a fourth mobile operator through an additional 3G auction.
It has canceled the auction, which had been strongly opposed by the three existing operators, and will instead sell them spectrum at the reserve price.
The three cellcos – M1, SingTel and StarHub –were the only bidders by the October 4 deadline and will each pick up a block of spectrum in the 1900/2100MHz band for S$20 million ($15.7m), IDA said.
The auction – for three lots of paired 5MHz spectrum per block – was scheduled to take place next month.
The three operators had resisted the plan because of the high reserve price and the amount they had already invested in 3G..
With a mobile ownership rate of 143%, Singapore is already a saturated mobile market. Of the 7.1 million services in use, 55% are 3G.
SingTel had called on IDA to issue the spectrum by administrative allocation, but at the time IDA had refused, arguing that doing so would “provide the wrong incentives” for the use of such scarce resources.
It is the second time the IDA has failed in an attempt to auction 3G spectrum. At its first attempt in 2001, it also attracted bids from the incumbents, who bought spectrum for the S$100 million reserve price.
At the time, IDA had been prepared to issue up to four 3G licenses, and the unallocated spectrum from the 2001 auction is what's being sold off today.
IDA has specified that winners of the auction will be granted use of the spectrum for ten years, and must have networks using the frequencies operational within 12 months.
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