[SINGAPORE] Singapore\u2019s mobile operators have begun migrating their customers to standalone (SA) 5G services, marking the next phase of the country\u2019s 5G roll-out with all four operators having achieved nationwide coverage.<\/p>\n
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) told The Business Times<\/em> that despite having achieved full SA coverage, some mobile network operators have been allowed to continue using their older non-SA (NSA) networks during the transition even as they deploy the 5G-SA.<\/p>\n This arrangement was made so consumers can enjoy some early benefits of 5G services, said IMDA.<\/p>\n IMDA, which set out its vision for Singapore to use 5G-SA networks in 2020, said the following year that the infrastructure was on track to cover the whole nation by the end of 2025.<\/p>\n The 5G-SA, which runs on dedicated 5G infrastructure, enables greater capacity, speed and more consistent network performance.<\/p>\n With nationwide SA networks now in place, operators began migrating their customers from NSA to SA services in 2026, the regulator added.<\/p>\n However, the pace of the transition away from NSA infrastructure has varied among the telco operators.<\/p>\n M1 and StarHub have already achieved full 5G-SA transition.<\/p>\n StarHub said it dropped its 5G-NSA network on May 31; M1 said all its 5G sites were now operating on SA.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO<\/p>\n M1 added that it is also supporting the mobile virtual network operators using its infrastructure: Circles.Life already leverages M1\u2019s 5G-SA, and MyRepublic is still using the 4G one.<\/p>\n M1 shares 5G infrastructure with StarHub through Antina, their network-sharing joint venture, in an arrangement that gives both operators access to shared 5G-SA capacity even as they compete for retail customers.<\/p>\n Responding to media queries, Singtel said that \u201conly a very small proportion of customers remain on 5G NSA\u201d, but did not confirm a date for its NSA retirement.<\/p>\n Australian-listed Tuas Limited, the holding company of Simba, did not respond to BT\u2019s queries.<\/p>\n Some analysts expect the industry-wide transition away from NSA networks to be completed by mid-2026, although this is still up in the air.<\/p>\n This transition has put Simba\u2019s spectrum position<\/a> in the spotlight.<\/p>\n Simba had its merger with M1 called off<\/a> in May, and is currently under investigation for the usage of unauthorised spectrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sachin Mittal, analyst from DBS Research Group, said that Simba\u2019s 5G-SA-capable spectrum is thin, relative to that of other operators in Singapore.<\/p>\n The growing active mobile customer base, coupled with the thin spectrum capacity, means that Simba\u2019s customers may experience patchier and weaker Internet connectivity indoors.<\/p>\n This transition comes at a time when Singapore\u2019s telco industry finds its profit margins shrinking amid intense price competition.<\/p>\n The mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) has fallen by between 36 and 41 per cent since 2017, noted a Maybank Research report in 2025.<\/p>\n The report also said that Singapore\u2019s ARPU is now 15 to 40 per cent below that of its developed Asia-Pacific peers.<\/p>\n Share prices of local telcos are also taking a hit: Shares of Singtel have fallen 3.1 per cent in the year to date; StarHub\u2019s went down 9.7 per cent over the same period.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the telco market might see some relief in a potential market consolidation.<\/p>\n Analysts say a merger between M1 and StarHub remains likely, further supported by the network-sharing agreement between the two mobile network operators.<\/p>\n On the other hand, a Singtel-Simba merger, while floated, remains unlikely because of Singtel\u2019s dominant market position.<\/p>\n Bloomberg Intelligence data showed that as at June, Singtel was leading the mobile market with 43 per cent of market share; M1 had 22 per cent, StarHub had 21 per cent, and Simba, 14 per cent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n M1 and StarHub’s older 5G networks already retired; Singtel and Simba have not said when they will complete the transition [SINGAPORE] Singapore\u2019s mobile operators have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/66463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Varying pace of transition<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Simba\u2019s spectrum position in focus<\/h2>\n
Industry under pressure<\/h2>\n
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