SingTel Mobile and M1 to battle it out in high speed wireless broadband segment

Singaporean mobile operators MobileOne Asia (M1) and SingTel Mobile, the mobile arm of incumbent operator SingTel, are locking horns in the high speed mobile broadband access market with near simultaneous launches of 3.5G high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) services. M1 is launching its service next week and aims to provide a nationwide wireless broadband service, offering new devices, such as the Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem and the Wi-Fi enabled Vodafone 3G Router, for free to subscribers who sign up. At launch, customers in the Central Business District area will be able to get downlink transmissions of up to 3.6Mbps for SGD68 (USD43.9) per month, while the rest of the island will receive 1.8Mbps access. This will increase to a top speed of 14.4Mbps by the end of 2007.