Mobile services revenue in Singapore is expected to drop by 18 percent in 2020 due to the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mobile subscription growth and partly due to the competition induced decline in mobile tariffs, according to GlobalData.
Mobile subscriptions in Singapore will decline by 0.7 percent in 2020 due to COVID-19 prompted circuit breaker lockdowns imposed in the country, which impacted gross additions.
Free mobile services extended by operators to support subscribers amidst the pandemic also hit the mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) and dragged down mobile service revenues during the year.
Deepa Dhingra, telecom analyst at GlobalData, said: “The entry of a new operator in 2019 and the subsequent mobile tariff wars induced by competition also hit the mobile ARPU levels and revenue in the country during the year.”
Mobile service revenues will see an upward trend from 2021 and increase at a compounded annual growth rate of 6.8 percent over the forecast period 2019-2025, driven by recovery in mobile subscription growth and anticipated growth in the adoption of higher ARPU yielding 5G services over the forecast period.
4G will remain the leading technology to provide mobile services in Singapore. However, 4G’s share in the total mobile subscriptions will decline from 88.5 percent in 2020 to 61.4 percent by the end of 2025 as mobile users start migrating to 5G services.
5G service subscriptions in Singapore will account for 37.5 percent share in the mobile subscriptions by 2025-end as the build out of 5G networks reach mature stage.
SingTel will continue to lead the mobile services market in terms of mobile subscriptions over the forecast period, supported by its strong focus on machine-to-machine/ Internet of Things (M2M/IoT) segment and 5G network roll out, the report said.
