[amazingone]

PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO | UPDATED 5 HOURS AGO

Irene Tham Senior Tech Correspondent


SINGAPORE - About 47,000 customers still on Singtel's ageing asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband network have until March next year to migrate to faster broadband technologies.

In a statement on Monday (Sept 11), Singtel said it will be shutting down its copper-based ADSL network, introduced more than 15 years ago, in April next year. It will be sending out letters to affected customers and offer themfibre broadband packages.

"Fibre-based networks today are capable of offering far greater speeds and supporting a much wider range of services than the prevailing copper-based networks," said Mr Wong Soon Nam, Singtel Consumer Singapore's vice-president for consumer products.

"Fibre also provides customers with a robust connectivity that supports unified business communication applications and smart home services," he said.

"Singtel will work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure our customers will enjoy a smooth and fuss-free transition to the fibre network. We will also reach out to customers through various channels to make sure they are informed of the impending change and make available a range of affordable plans to cater to their varied communication needs."

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) acknowledged that it is no longer commercially viable for Singtel to maintain the ageing technology on a nationwide basis.

"With the proliferation of fibre connectivity in Singapore, the demand for services provided over legacy copper infrastructure such as ADSL broadband services has declined significantly over the years," an IMDA spokesman said.

ADSL broadband subscriptions account for less than 3 per cent of home broadband subscriptions, IMDA noted.

In approving its requests to shut down the ADSL network - which provides broadband access as well as pay-TV and digital landline services- IMDA has required Singtel to provide ample notice and comparable alternative packages to minimise any disruption to affected customers.

IMDA said that more than 95 per cent of affected consumers will be offered comparable or cheaper packages. Subscribers tied to contracts may exit their contracts without early termination charges if they do not wish to sign up for the alternative fibre-based services.

Singtel will also cease copper deployment to commercial buildings that obtain Temporary Occupation Permit (TOP) status from April, and will serve customers in these buildings using fibre-based networks. Commercial buildings that obtain TOP status before April 2018 will not be affected. Singtel has ceased copper deployment to new residential buildings since 2013.

source: http://www.straitstimes.com/tech/sin...ime=1505129001

[amazingone]

Wonder what will be the packages that Singtel will be offering to existing ADSL customers, like myself

[uncle168]

i think the usual offer of $31.90 for 300mbps

[amazingone]

uncle168 wrote:

i think the usual offer of $31.90 for 300mbps

Hope got more competitive price, as M1 is also having 300Mbps for $23 for first year

[uncle168]

singtel & starhub strategy is to retain customers who are willing to pay more

m1 strategy is to gain market share by cutting price

[Henry Ng]

uncle168 wrote:

singtel & starhub strategy is to retain customers who are willing to pay more

m1 strategy is to gain market share by cutting price

Still can consider whizcomms during major fair. This coming Sitex Show will be very exciting for ISP.

[uncle168]

whizcomms $32 leh m1 $29 nia

[uncle168]

m1 kept its price low as the government forced nlt to lower the residential fibre fee from $15 to $13.80 per connection

[renfred89]

Could u elaborate more on this?

uncle168 wrote:

m1 kept its price low as the government forced nlt to lower the residential fibre fee from $15 to $13.80 per connection

Samsung Galaxy S8+ HardwareZone Forums app

[uncle168]

instead of giving telcos cash incentive to encourage adsl and cable subscribers to switch to fibre

the government lowered the residential cost payable to nlt by telcos from $15 to $13.80 hence m1 profit from its $29 plan increased from $14 to $15.20

starhub continues to sell cable broadband as the government has ceased cash incentive for cable to fibre conversion

singtel is also ending adsl support from april next year

most of the people who stuck with cable and adsl are value consumers

unless singtel and starhub fibre broadband is cheaper than m1, it is likely m1 will increase its fibre subscribers by up to 137K (43K adsl 94K cable)

m1 now has 176K fibre subscribers

m1 could end up with 313K fibre subscriber by end of 2018

that is when it would raise price to bump up the profit margin

[amazingone]

Whizcomm using Singtel infra, if got any issues on Singtel infra confirm Whizcomm users will be secondary to them when it comes to resolving

[Ah-Pin-Kor]

uncle168 wrote:

most of the people who stuck with cable and adsl are value consumers

unless singtel and starhub fibre broadband is cheaper than m1, it is likely m1 will increase its fibre subscribers by up to 137K (43K adsl 94K cable)

m1 now has 176K fibre subscribers

m1 could end up with 313K fibre subscriber by end of 2018

that is when it would raise price to bump up the profit margin

Uncle, you work as insurance agent ah? Your projections all best case one.
I don't think the other ISPs will just stand idly by while M1 eats their lunches.

[uncle168]

don't you find it strange m1 fibre is growing so fast

its because starhub and singtel is letting the value consumers go and retaining those who are willing to pay more

[lohsenglte]

uncle168 wrote:

don't you find it strange m1 fibre is growing so fast

its because starhub and singtel is letting the value consumers go and retaining those who are willing to pay more

I felt that M1 Fibre customer growth has slowed down instead. Last time was around 10k per quarter, now drop to around 8k per quarter.

[Henry Ng]

uncle168 wrote:

whizcomms $32 leh m1 $29 nia

M1 $29 for 300/500 Mbps but Whizcomms $32 for 1Gbps and during major fair sometime got 3 mths free so it is like $29 for 1Gbps.