On 28 July 2015, Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) became the first mobile operator in the city-state to offer its users tri-band 4G network services, following the commercial launch of Long Term Evolution (LTE) in the 900MHz band. In a company statement, the operator said the upgrade will allow customers to enjoy better indoor mobile reception in more areas, noting that the upgrade is taking place seamlessly and that by March 2016, LTE-900 will be available at over 400 sites across Singapore, allowing customers to surf the web faster, and enjoy better and more consistent download speeds while indoors, even in MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) tunnels. Further, Singtel says it is working with Samsung to offer a smartphone that supports tri-band 4G+ (i.e. LTE-A) in the coming months, offering peak connection speeds of 337Mbps. Singtel vice president of mobile marketing Diana Chen said that the operator is reacting to meet exponential demand for data in the local market. ‘We have invested heavily over the past year to improve the quality and extent of coverage, particularly indoor coverage. We have also enhanced zones that have been in need of a signal boost,’ she said.
Separately, Singtel has inked a deal with fast food chain McDonald’s to equip the latter’s 123 outlets across the island with Singtel Premium WiFi connectivity. The deployment kicks off with Wi-Fi access being made available in McDonald’s premises at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Nex and Causeway Point and is expected to be completed by the first half of 2016.