MobileOne (M1) HSDPA Network, Singapore

MobileOne (M1), launched in April 1997, is one of Singapore's best known mobile and international direct dialling service providers. Since then, the company has made significant inroads into the local mobile communications market, gaining considerable brand presence and market share. M1 had 1 million subscribers and a 35% market share by 2002. It is Singapore's third largest mobile operator after Singapore Telecommunications and StarHub.

M1 is the smallest mobile operator in Singapore in terms of number of subscribers (1.27 million in 2005). Telekom Malaysia and Khazanah Nasional are two major shareholders in M1. The company has had a 3G network (provided by Nokia) since 2003–2004 and had the distinction of launching Singapore's first video calling price plan in 2005. The company was due to invest a total of SGD$500m between 2001 and 2006. MobileOne provides a range of services on its nationwide dual-band GSM 900/1800 and W-CDMA networks.

NOKIA HSDPA NETWORK

Nokia has been awarded a US$30m contract to supply a High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network to M1 in Singapore. Nokia will also expand the WCDMA 3G radio network coverage, upgrade its core network and provide a software upgrade as part of the same deal. Nokia has been the sole equipment supplier for M1's W-CDMA network since its launch in 2003–2004.

The contract also includes network optimisation and deployment services to M1 that involves installation, commissioning, integration and acceptance testing of the network. The HSPA network will be the first in Singapore, ahead of M1's rivals in the market, Singapore Telecom and Starhub. The new network will allow M1 to offer high-quality network coverage and the latest multimedia services to its subscribers.

Neil Montefiore, CEO of MobileOne, said: "This award of Singapore's first HSDPA contract to Nokia is an important milestone for MobileOne. It reaffirms our commitment to offering our customers high quality mobile services that combine mobility with higher speed and wide area coverage for data intensive business and consumer applications. With HSPA, downloading of large files, multimedia and music on the move can be done at a fraction of the normal time required. It will certainly be seen as a technology that truly enhances customers' mobile experiences and greatly improves their quality of life."

The HSDPA network upgrade will mean a simple software upgrade to the existing Nokia WCDMA networks, enabling a fast, cost-effective rollout. The two big advantages for M1 in this case will be the expansion of network coverage and the fact that HSDPA offers almost ten times faster data services than current 3G networks, making more business subscribers likely.