96,900 high-speed 3G users in S'pore

96,900 high-speed 3G users in S'pore

By ANGELA TAN

EVEN before StarHub launched i-mode, Singapore's high-speed 3G subscriber base had more than doubled since July to hit 96,900 in October, according to figures from the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA).

The take-up figures compare to 66,200 in September, 47,700 in August and 37,500 in July.

While the IDA statistics do not show the breakdown among the three mobile operators - Singapore Telecom, StarHub and MobileOne (M1) - it is believed that SingTel and StarHub continue to enjoy the lion's share of the 3G market.

In September, SingTel was reported to have enticed more than 30,000 3G users into its camp, with its promotional offer which priced video calls at the same rate as voice calls. StarHub had around 23,000 3G users while M1 had signed up 12,500.

StarHub only went on the aggressive in November when it launched its i-mode services with its 100 local and foreign content sites, shortly after SingTel launched 16 live 'mobile TV' channels for cellphones in an effort to boost sluggish local uptake of 3G technology.

At the i-mode launch, StarHub said it was targeting 50,000 i-mode users by the end of the first year of launch. i-mode is a mobile-Internet platform developed by Japan's NTT DoCoMo which allows users to access the Internet with just one click of a hot button.

IDA said total mobile penetration rate in Singapore continued to inch higher, reaching 96.6 per cent in October, compared to 96.2 per cent the previous month.

Total mobile user base was 4.19 million users, compared to 4.18 million in September. Total post-paid user base slipped marginally to 2.61 million in October, from about 2.64 million the previous month. Total prepaid users also slipped slightly to 1.48 million. The total number of SMS messages rose to 748.39 million in October, up from 720.44 million.