Singtel taps 5G proliferation in enterprises for growth; gets itself ‘leaner, fitter’ for possible consolidation

In line with the restructuring, Ng Tian Chong, a veteran executive from Hewlett-Packard (HP), was brought in to head the newly consolidated consumer and enterprise business. It has been over a year since Ng joined, and he has set in motion several plans for the group to grow within Singapore despite the highly competitive landscape.

In an interview with The Edge Singapore, Ng says that consolidating the Singapore consumer and enterprise segments allows both organisations to work better together and extract potential synergies. “There are several similar horizontal functions, such as human resources (HR), finance and IT, for the two segments. Bringing them together means that we can remove the duplicates and simplify the structure.”

The company’s consumer business is more easily understood and has a higher profile with its familiar suite of mobile and broadband services. On the other hand, Singtel’s sprawling enterprise business covers small and medium businesses (SMBs) to large multinational corporations.

What ties these two vastly separate markets together is the growing prevalence of 5G mobile networks, which are now mainstream and no longer a fringe technology. They are used by both consumers and enterprise customers alike.

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For example, following Singtel’s islandwide launch of its standalone 5G network in 2022, it is able to offer guaranteed bandwidth for critical communications, enhancing operational efficiency for large corporations and even intelligent factories.

Of course, Singtel recognises that different customers have different requirements. SMB clients, for example, are different from large enterprises and regular consumers.

Hence, Singtel has conducted its own fundamental analysis on this segment of customers to understand how to service them better and offer what they need, says Anna Yip, Singtel’s CEO of consumer Singapore, in the same interview.

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“They require resilience, seamlessness and connectivity. The expectation of service level is different, too. One synergy [between the enterprise and consumer segments] is to bring the big and complete setup of the consumer side in servicing customers and apply that to the SMB side,” says Yip.

For Ng, it is like having a central kitchen for restaurants. “There are portions of the business that can be processed in our ‘central kitchen’ and then the final touches, or when we have to face the customer, this will be different,” says Ng, adding that the go-to-market teams are not merged.

Enterprise expansion

Beyond encouraging consumers to sign up for higher-value 5G plans, the telco industry here is focusing on 5G use cases within the enterprise segment. Recently, 5G has been highly demanded for smart manufacturing in smart factories. For instance, Singtel has partnered with Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre (HMGICS) in Singapore to deploy Singtel’s 5G infrastructure network solutions to the electric vehicle production facility.

The HMGICS, the first of its kind in the world, taps into Singtel’s 5G campus network with mobile edge core solutions to provide high-speed connectivity and massive bandwidth needed by HMGICS’s high-precision quality control in manufacturing operations. Singtel’s 5G mobility network enables Hyundai to deliver on its “meta mobility” concept, which refers to going beyond physical movements through robotics and into the metaverse to affect change in the real world — expanding the use of robots as a medium between the real and virtual worlds.

Ng claims that Singtel is also a leader in leveraging data and network technology to offer differentiated solutions in the enterprise space. For example, its CUBE solution is an all-in-one platform that allows enterprise customers to monitor their network’s health, access analytics and purchase services on demand. This type of automation and real-time dashboard enables businesses to be more agile while improving operational efficiency. Over 120,000 SMBs and enterprise customers use this platform, and APIs have been developed to further integrate customer-facing solutions with Singtel’s backend services.

“With CUBE, we have automated a lot of the network management process for our enterprise customers. Previously, a lot of human interaction was involved, and now, the analytics are provided on the dashboard. Our customers can provision themselves immediately instead of waiting to speak to someone or waiting for someone to arrive at their office,” says Ng.

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While Singtel’s data centre business — which was seen as an integral part of its enterprise offerings — has been spun off into another segment, Ng believes that there are still synergies between the enterprise and data centre segments.

For example, many of Singtel’s corporate clients require interconnectivity between data centres, which is critical for handling vast amounts of data securely and efficiently. Singtel’s strategic partnership with Nxera has enabled it to offer services such as GPU-as-a-service to enterprise clients, strengthening its overall value proposition in Singapore’s competitive enterprise market.

Growth in the consumer market

On the other hand, in the consumer space, Singtel is keen on capturing the evolving needs of tech-savvy consumers. The company recognises that consumers demand more value than just the lowest price today. As such, Singtel has introduced new plans and bundles that include unlimited data, handset promotions and added security features. These plans reflect the growing consumer desire for value-added services beyond basic connectivity, such as scam protection, which is becoming an essential service in a world increasingly impacted by cybercrime.

In response to changing consumer behaviour, Singtel has also begun offering “SIM-only” plans. These plans target customers who are less interested in handset subsidies and more focused on getting the best value from their data and connectivity services.

Yip shares that this is where Singtel works with mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). She does not see it as competition or market cannibalisation, but the different MVNOs with different products to the market will “fight different ends of the battle”.

“It depends on what the customer wants. Are they price-sensitive or value-sensitive?” says Yip. Hence, the MVNO products target a different customer segment and complement Singtel’s existing suite of products.

Additionally, Singtel has been modernising its Pay TV offerings by blending traditional linear programming with over-the-top (OTT) content, making it more accessible and relevant to younger and older audiences.

Aside from its core telecommunications business, Singtel is also exploring growth opportunities in digital banking through its partnership with Grab, known as GXS. The venture has already made significant strides in Singapore, with plans to expand further into regional markets like Malaysia and Indonesia. Singtel’s role as an investor and strategic partner in this venture positions the company to tap into the growing demand for digital financial services in Southeast Asia.

Evidently, some positive numbers can be seen as a result of this new strategy. For the first quarter ended June, Singtel’s Singapore mobile service revenue increased by 7% to $933 million on roaming recovery and so-called Internet of Things take up from connected cars. Ebitda for the same segment in the same period was up 4%, and ebit was held steady as cost savings offset higher depreciation from IT and network investments. In contrast, Singtel’s overall operating revenue in the same 1QFY2025 was down 2% y-o-y to $3.4 billion.

No regrets

Even as Singtel pushes ahead for better numbers of its own, a bigger picture is potentially unfolding. The local telco market is becoming increasingly competitive, with four major players vying for a relatively small population of 6 million. Industry experts have speculated that consolidation is on the horizon, a move that could reshape the competitive landscape. Singtel, however, is adopting a “no regret” strategy. According to Ng, the company cannot control market consolidation but is instead focusing on positioning itself as a “fitter, leaner” telco ready to thrive in any future scenario.

Singtel’s “no regret” moves include streamlining its cost structure and digitalising its customer service and operational processes. The goal is to become more customer-centric, offering digital solutions that reduce the need for physical infrastructure and human interaction, especially in enterprise services. This preparation ensures that Singtel will be ready to compete effectively whether or not market consolidation takes place.

In the event of consolidation, Ng believes fewer telcos in the market would lead to healthier competition, and Singtel is positioning itself to capitalise on this potential development by improving its operational efficiency and reinforcing its market leadership in both consumer and enterprise segments.