SINGAPORE / SHOPPING CULTURE / TELCO SHOP HISTORY
By The Memory desk · Historical reference · Sources checked 7 October 2026
Singapore telco history, seen from the shop counter, falls into three periods. Until 1 April 1997 there was one mobile operator, Singapore Telecom, and one place to sign up. M1’s arrival that day began a price war, and StarHub made it a three-way market on 1 April 2000. From August 2008 the iPhone, sold here only through telcos and only on two-year contracts, put the subsidised handset at the centre of the counter; regulation and cheaper SIM-only plans have since loosened that hold.
Two rules shaped what happened at the counter. Number portability, available in a limited form since April 1997 and in full since 13 June 2008, made it far easier to leave an operator. A cap on contract length at 24 months, in force since 1 March 2010, limited how long one could keep you. This history follows the telco shop through those changes; the wider arc from pagers to smartphones is in our history of mobile phones in Singapore.
Singapore’s telco shops at a glance
| First mobile operator | Telecoms, later Singapore Telecom (Singtel); cellular service from August 1988 |
| Competitors arrive | M1 on 1 April 1997; StarHub on 1 April 2000 |
| Number portability | By call forwarding from April 1997; full portability from 13 June 2008 |
| Contract length | Capped at 24 months since 1 March 2010 |
| Known for | Subsidised handsets on two-year contracts, re-contract upgrades and launch-day sales |
| Today | Four network operators (Singtel, StarHub, M1 and SIMBA) and several cheaper virtual operators; budget SIM-only plans from about S$7 to S$11 a month in October 2026 listings |
1988 to 1997: one operator, one counter
Cellular telephone service began in August 1988 under Telecoms, the state operator formed in 1974. In 1989 it was corporatised as Singapore Telecom, and in November 1993 it listed on the stock exchange in a flotation for which 1.4 million Singaporeans applied, according to the National Library. For mobile customers, though, nothing changed: Singapore Telecom held the sole licence to provide the service, and anyone who wanted a handphone line went to it.
The product was expensive and the market small. Singapore Telecom opened its digital GSM network in 1994, and the Nokia 2110, one of the first GSM handsets sold here, cost about S$2,400 at launch. At the end of 1994 there were about 248,000 cellular subscribers, a penetration rate of nearly 9 per cent. We have not found a public record of when the company opened its first dedicated handphone showroom, so we leave that date open rather than guess.
1997: M1 arrives and the market doubles
Singapore Telecom’s mobile exclusivity was due to end in 1997, and the second licence went to MobileOne, a consortium of Keppel, Singapore Press Holdings, Cable & Wireless and Hongkong Telecom chosen from five bidders. It opened for business on 1 April 1997. In 1996 the government also told Singapore Telecom that the rest of its monopoly, over fixed lines and international calls, would end on 1 April 2000 rather than 2007, compensating it with S$1.5 billion.
Competition changed the arithmetic quickly. Singapore passed half a million cellular users in May 1997, a month after M1 opened, and by August 1998 the regulator counted 903,000. The trade paper RCR Wireless tied the collapse of paging to the price competition that M1 set off. In its first form, number portability in Singapore was a call-forwarding service introduced in April 1997: a customer who switched operators received a new number, and calls to the old one were redirected to it.
One practical consequence is worth spelling out, though it is our reading rather than a documented policy history. A technology columnist noted in 2008 that Singapore did not practise SIM-locking, so a handset bought from one operator would work on the others. That left room for a busy trade in phones sold without a line at all, and the independent shops that grew around it are the subject of our history of handphone dealers and trade-ins.
2000: StarHub and a three-way market
StarHub was licensed in April 1998 and launched on 1 April 2000, the day the telecoms market was fully liberalised, with ST Telemedia, Singapore Power, BT and NTT among its main shareholders. In October 2002 it merged with Singapore’s only cable television operator, which allowed it to sell mobile, broadband and pay television together. The National Library records that Singtel still held 46.4 per cent of the Singapore mobile market, about 3.2 million customers, in 2011.
By 2004 the regulator counted 32 facilities-based operators and more than 600 services-based ones, with international call rates down by as much as 60 per cent since liberalisation. Mobile penetration had passed 80 per cent by December 2003, text messaging was described as prolific, and GPRS data was running by mid-2001. M1 launched Singapore’s first 3G consumer service in February 2005, and mobile data became something a plan had to price.
When did full number portability start in Singapore?
The call-forwarding system worked, but it was clumsy. A customer who moved operator carried two numbers, and the original one did not show on the recipient’s caller ID. The regulator removed recurring monthly fees for porting in June 2003, decided in August 2006 to move to full portability, and in June 2007 appointed Syniverse Technologies to run the central database.
Full mobile number portability took effect on 13 June 2008. A subscriber could now keep the same number with a new operator, usually by the next working day, and prepaid customers gained the right to port for the first time. Around 130,000 people who had used the old system were migrated between April and June that year. By then Singapore had more than 5.8 million mobile subscriptions, more than it had residents.
2008 to 2010: the iPhone and the two-year contract
Two months after full portability arrived, the iPhone made the telco shop the only official place to buy the most talked-about phone in the country. Singtel launched the iPhone 3G at midnight on 22 August 2008 and was its sole carrier here for about 15 months. Every price was tied to a two-year contract: the 8GB model cost S$348 upfront on a S$56-a-month plan with 200 minutes and 1GB of data, and S$0 on a S$205 plan. The scenes at Singtel’s Comcentre that night are covered in our history of smartphone launch queues.
Exclusivity ended when M1 announced its own Apple deal in October 2009 and StarHub followed in November. Both began selling the iPhone on 9 December 2009, and Network World’s comparison that week shows how a plan was now chosen. M1’s cheapest plan was S$36 a month, with a 16GB iPhone 3GS at S$518; StarHub’s started at S$38, with the phone at S$538; Singtel’s at S$39, with the phone at S$548. The bigger difference was data. M1 and StarHub offered 10 to 12GB or unlimited use, against 500MB to 3GB at Singtel.
The terms themselves were then reined in. Since 1 March 2010 contracts for these services have been capped at 24 months, and any early termination charge must fall month by month as the term runs down. The re-contract, an offer of a new subsidised handset in return for another two years, became the telco shop’s main reason to see a customer again. Whether it ever saved money depends on the sum, which our guide to mobile plans in Singapore works through.
SIM-only plans and the cheaper networks
The handset subsidy has since lost much of its pull. Singapore now has four mobile network operators, Singtel, StarHub, M1 and SIMBA, and a field of virtual operators that rent capacity on their networks. Listings in October 2026 show budget SIM-only plans from about S$7 to S$11 a month with large data allowances, while the big three’s own SIM-only plans typically start around S$10 to S$15. A customer who buys a phone outright can take the plan separately and change it at will.
Even the SIM card is losing its plastic. Many phones now take an eSIM, a profile downloaded rather than inserted, which is how travellers increasingly buy data abroad; our guide to travel eSIMs and roaming compares the costs. Our interpretation, not a documented trend, is that this leaves the telco shop with less to sell over the counter and more to sort out: transfers, billing disputes, family plans, set-up and trade-ins.
Using a telco shop today
As of October 2026, Singtel, StarHub and M1 all run shops in malls around the island; check their websites for current outlets and opening hours rather than relying on an old address. Trade-ins are now a routine part of the visit. Singtel says its in-store assessment usually takes about 15 minutes and that it reviews trade-in values roughly every two weeks, so a quote from last month may not hold.
Before you sign anything, add up the full cost over the contract, including the upfront payment and any admin fee, and compare it with buying the phone outright and taking a SIM-only plan. Ask whether the handset is an official local set with the manufacturer’s warranty, which our guide to official warranties, parallel imports and trade-ins explains, and get the early termination charge in writing.
A Singapore telco history timeline
- August 1988: Cellular telephone service begins under Telecoms.
- 1989: Telecoms is corporatised as Singapore Telecom.
- November 1993: Singapore Telecom lists on the stock exchange.
- 1994: The GSM network opens.
- 1996: The government brings forward the end of Singapore Telecom’s remaining monopoly to 1 April 2000.
- 1 April 1997: M1 begins service; number portability by call forwarding starts.
- April 1998: StarHub is licensed.
- 1 April 2000: StarHub launches as the market is fully liberalised.
- October 2002: StarHub merges with Singapore’s cable television operator.
- June 2003: Recurring monthly porting fees are removed.
- February 2005: M1 launches Singapore’s first 3G consumer service.
- 13 June 2008: Full mobile number portability takes effect.
- 22 August 2008: Singtel launches the iPhone 3G on two-year contracts.
- 9 December 2009: M1 and StarHub begin selling the iPhone.
- 1 March 2010: Mobile contracts are capped at 24 months.
Questions people ask
When did M1 and StarHub start in Singapore?
M1 began mobile service on 1 April 1997, ending Singapore Telecom’s mobile monopoly. StarHub launched on 1 April 2000, when the whole telecoms market was liberalised.
When did mobile number portability start in Singapore?
A call-forwarding form began in April 1997. Full portability, in which you keep the same number on a new network, took effect on 13 June 2008.
How long can a mobile contract be in Singapore?
No longer than 24 months, a cap in force since 1 March 2010. Early termination charges must decrease as the contract runs.
When did Singtel lose iPhone exclusivity?
M1 and StarHub announced their own Apple deals in October and November 2009 and began selling the iPhone on 9 December 2009, about 15 months after Singtel’s launch.
Are phones SIM-locked in Singapore?
Historically, no. A 2008 Techgoondu column noted that Singapore phones were not SIM-locked, which is why a set bought from one operator or an independent shop worked on the others. Check with the seller if a phone was bought abroad.
Sources and further reading
- National Library Board, Infopedia: Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel)
- RCR Wireless: MobileOne consortium crowned Singapore’s new cellular carrier (mid-1990s)
- M1: submission to the Infocomm Development Authority (January 2008)
- Telecommunication Authority of Singapore: speech by Director-General Leong Keng Thai (August 1998)
- Infocomm Development Authority: press release on the gains from telecoms liberalisation (2004)
- Infocomm Development Authority: Full mobile number portability (April 2008)
- Wikipedia: StarHub
- Macworld: iPhone 3G launches in Singapore (August 2008)
- Techgoondu: iPhone 3G hype comes to Singapore via SingTel (June 2008)
- Network World: Two more operators put iPhone on sale in Singapore (December 2009)
- Singtel: The complete guide to phone trade-in in Singapore (2026)
This is a historical reference: plans, prices and shop locations change, so check with the operator before you sign. Read next: From pager to handphone to smartphone · Handphone dealers, trade-ins and bargaining · Back to The Memory
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