IDA to slash licence fee for most operators

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), country's telecom authority, has revised the annual licence fees for the licensed Facilities Based Operators(FBOs), and Services-Based Operators (SBOs). The revision will result in a significant downfall of licence fee for a large majority of licensees, including small to medium sized licensees.

The new fee structure is an outcome of the authority's review of its licensing framework after considering the feedback from operators.The authority said that it felt the need to enhance the competitiveness of the licence fees, and the changing industry landscape, especially with the deployment of the next generation nationwide broadband network(Next Gen NBN).

The new fee structure will take effect at the start of a licensee's financial year in 2013.

All FBOs will benefit from a reduction of between 20 per cent and 75 per cent in annual licence fees from 2013, while most SBOs will see a drop of 20 per cent in licence fees, said IDA.

''This new fee structure seeks to provide a more balanced approach towards facilitating both facilities and services-based competition in Singapore. It is a step towards encouraging facilities-based competition while anticipating increasing SBO competition especially with the deployment of the Next Gen NBN,'' said Leong Keng Thai, deputy chief executive and director general, IDA on the announcement.

With this the total amount of licence fee revenue collected by IDA from FBOs and SBOs could fall by $15 million to $20 million, over the next five years.