Late to the Party but MyRepublic Wants to Be Fourth Local Telco Provider

The two-year old local broadband services provider myRepublic wants to be the fourth full-fledged mobile services provider, throwing down the gauntlet to compete against SingTel, StarHub and M1. The three incumbent telcos haven't had a challenger for the past thirteen years due to the "prohibitive costs of networks and airwaves."

According to the Straits Times, myRepublic wants to provide mobile services by leveraging on its island-wide fiber connections that have already been laid out. All it needs to do is to purchase spectrum rights and install base stations for connectivity to mobile devices. In order to attract customers, myRepublic is offering something that is unheard of for 4G services; unlimited data plans for mobile devices.

However, by promising such unprecedented offers, myRepublic may be biting off more than it can chew as the Straits Time noted that its popular “1Gbps fiber broadband package - at $49.99 a month, the cheapest per MB plan to date - drew so many sign-ups that it led to months of delays in orders being delivered.” MyRepublic's chief executive, Mr. Malcolm Rodrigues, told The Straits Times that the company’s efforts to provide full-fledged mobile services are still nascent as talks with potential financial backers are in their early stages. Therefore, it could be a while before we can witness myRepublic’s disruptive entry to our local mobile services market.

As we've reported back in April, IDA is studying the possibility of helping to ease in more mobile virtual network operators to offer telecommunication services to consumers. So it's only a matter of time before consumers like us will benefit from more choices.

(Source: Straits Times)

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