Singapore’s cellcos achieve 4G coverage targets ahead of schedule

According to a survey conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, all three of the city-state’s mobile operators have achieved nationwide outdoor 4G coverage ahead of schedule, which it says will ‘help set the standards in the Quality of Service [QoS] framework for 4G services’. The nationwide survey took readings at 200,000 locations, including town centres, parks and along major and minor transport routes, and concluded that SingTel came out best, with a nationwide outdoor coverage of 99.41%, followed by M1 at 99.04% and StarHub at 98.95%. This places the three incumbents approximately 18 months ahead of schedule vis-a-vis the IDA’s deadline to reach nationwide outdoor 4G service coverage by 30 June 2016. Focus will now shift to improving coverage in underground road and train tunnels ahead of the 30 June 2018 deadline stipulated by the regulator.