NBN puts heat on Singapore's Telcos, especially M1

The advent of the National Broadband Network and the proposal for pay TV content to be shared has reduced the differentiation between the three main operators wherein StarHub previously had the dominance of triple play (mobile, broadband, pay TV) bundling.

SingTel’s major foray into the pay TV space upon winning the telecast rights for the English Premier League kick started its own foray and as of March 2011, it counts 292,000 pay TV subscribers under its wing from the launching in 2007, against StarHub’s 542,000.

Meanwhile, M1 has started its fixed broadband service and could participate in pay TV if the Media Development Authority’s proposal for exclusive content sharing is implemented. To date, there has been limited churn at StarHub despite the falling differentiation partly due to the prevalence of bundling discounts and two-year contract extensions, and given a host of other exclusive non-sports content on its pay TV platform.