Singapore's MyRepublic has been joined by Australian ISP TPG Telecom and the recently-formed airYotta in submitting bids to become Singapore's fourth mobile operator.
The three companies have submitted expressions of interest in participating in an upcoming new entrant spectrum auction, Channel News Asia reported.
MyRepublic has been clear in its intentions of bidding for the license for some time, but TPG Telecom is a surprise entrant.
The new airYotta meanwhile has been formed by former executives from Consistel subsidiary OMGTel, which had previously expressed an interest in taking part in the auction but had not done so by the deadline.
In a statement airYotta said it is backed by a fund fully financed by an investor dedicated to wireless ventures, and plans to deploy Singapore's first LTE-A Pro network if its bid is successful.
MyRepublic meanwhile aims to deploy a “pre-5G” network using HetNet technologies such as small cells, to help improve speeds, connectivity and latency.
In a stock market filing, TPG confirmed it has applied to take part in the auction.
“If TPG successfully prequalifies it will be able to bid for 2 lots of 2x5 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum and 8 lots of 5MHz of 2.3-GHz spectrum,” the company said.
“TPG notes the very positive step taken by the IDA to encourage a fourth entrant by making a substantial portion of spectrum available for sale to new entrants only.”