Singapore
Country case study

Singapore is the last in a series of five case studies on regulatory independence and effectiveness to be presented in ITU News. The other four case studies covered Morocco, Botswana, Brazil and Peru.

Why Singapore?

Known for years as one of Asia’s economic “tigers,” Singapore is one of the most sophisticated and developed markets in the world. Singapore has worked hard to develop itself as a high-technology pioneer, including in the communications sector. This effort has been a national one, calling upon the resources of the government and the private sector to coordinate the development of the country’s telecommunications and computing resources.

The government of Singapore has taken an active role in the development of the nation’s information and communication technologies (ICT) market. This active role includes the design and implementation of a visionary and comprehensive policy aimed at securing Singapore’s place as a regional ICT hub. In addition, the government holds indirect equity stakes in major ICT market players and provides grants and subsidies to companies engaging in telecommunication innovation or pioneering new technologies or services.

Singapore was selected for a number of compelling reasons. In 1992, it became one of the first countries worldwide to create a sector-specific telecommunications regulatory body, the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS). It was also one of the first countries to create a regulatory body specifically to respond to the convergence of telecommunications and information technologies (computing). It did so in late 1999 through the merger of TAS with the country’s former National Computer Board (NCB), creating the Info-Communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA).

For the short time it has been in existence, IDA has been lauded for developing a fair and impartial framework for competition — the Code of Practice for Competition in the Provision of Telecommunications Services (the Code) — based on the principles of technological neutrality and asymmetric regulation between dominant and non-dominant licensees. In addition, in a process balancing the need for public consultation with quick market entry, IDA approved a Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO) that allows any licensee to establish fair terms and conditions for interconnection with the incumbent fixed-line operator. Together, the Code and RIO serve as valuable models for countries seeking to implement full competition.

Furthermore, IDA’s mandate is a rare combination of regulatory duties and roles in promoting and developing the country’s communications capabilities and industries. IDA represents Singapore’s comprehensive effort not just to regulate ICT industries, but also to become an “info-communications hub.” Finally, Singapore’s governing political culture emphasizes a consensus-building approach that involves both public sector leadership and private sector input in marshalling national resources and achieving national goals.

Sector Reform

Singapore has undergone three distinct phases of sector reform. During the early to mid-1990s, SingTel was operating under a licence that included exclusive rights to provide public basic domestic and international telecommunication services until 31 March 2007. However, as liberalization in global telecommunication markets rapidly spread out during the mid-to-late 1990s, Singapore felt the pressure to keep pace with other East Asian States. In April 1996, the government kicked off a second phase of liberalization, announcing that it would accelerate the start of full competition in the telecommunications sector to April 2002. In 1998, however, the government issued just one additional fixed-line licence to StarHub Communications, opting to implement a fixed-line duopoly during the period from April 2000 through 2002. Before StarHub could even enter the market, however, Singapore had already — and somewhat unexpectedly — embarked on the third and current phase of liberalization. In January 2000, Singapore’s government abruptly changed course away from its duopoly policy, accelerating the date for full competition from 1 April 2002 to 1 April 2000. On that date, Singapore allowed competition in all telecommunication markets. Both SingTel and StarHub were compensated for the loss of their exclusive and duopoly guarantees in their service licences.

At the same time that the government was moving to open its markets, a number of different government agencies — including TAS, NCB, the Economic Development Board and even, occasionally, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority — developed overlapping responsibilities with regard to information and telecommunications regulation, promotion and development, resulting in the duplication of resources and effort. As a result of a Parliamentary proposal, legislation was therefore tabled to create a single, focused agency that would combine all government promotional and regulatory efforts involving the converging communications industries. It was then that the government introduced the term “info-communications” into the official vocabulary. Info-communications is Singapore’s term for ICTs.

IDA

IDA was legally formed on 1 December 1999 as a statutory Board. During its first year of operation, IDA acted under the belief that the agency would progressively move away from micro-management of the industry as and when competition took root, and focus on putting in place and enforcing regulatory frameworks to ensure a level playing field in the industry.

IDA plans to move towards a more strategic role in planning and steering Singapore into the leadership of info-communications industries and activities as a whole. At the same time that it works to stabilize the regulatory framework, IDA is actively working to promote and develop the market.

A detailed analysis of IDA’s effectiveness, best practices and challenges is available in the Singapore case study on effective regulation at http://web.itu.ch/ITU–D/treg/Case_Studies/Index.html.