IDA to push ahead with 3G spectrum sale

Singapore’s regulator IDA will auction additional 3G spectrum by October, despite the opposition of the country’s three mobile operators.

 

IDA said last week that it would “make available the full 2x15MHz paired spectrum in three roughly equal sized lots of 2x5MHz for the provision of 3G…services.”

 

IDA said that a market-based allocation mechanism or auction is “still the most appropriate approach” to allocate scarce spectrum resources.

 

All three mobile incumbents – SingTel, StarHub and M1 – have opposed the auction plans.

 

In its submission to IDA, SingTel urged the regulator to adopt a “simple administrative allocation and set a cap of one lot of spectrum (i.e. the 5MHz spectrum lot that is proposed by the IDA) for each of the existing 3G mobile operators.”

 

It argued that existing 3G operators would require additional spectrum to cater for growing data usage and to manage coverage quality.