Look at how much will be slashed from Singaporean telcos' profits after a fourth player comes in

EBITDA margins will probably range to 26-27% at end-2017.

Domestic mobile competition will intensify further in Singapore due to the impending entry of a fourth mobile network operator (MNO), says Fitch.

The rating agency estimates that Singapore telco industry's operating EBITA margins are likely to narrow to around 26-27% in 2016-2017, compared to 28.2% in 2015 due to higher marketing costs and pricing pressure on pay TV.

"We think the new MNO will focus on price to gain market share. Our forecast assumes flat industry revenue, as growth in data services offsets the decline in roaming revenue," it said.

Fitch believes that incumbents Singtel, Starhub, M1 are likely to offer cheaper bundled offerings and handset subsidies to improve customer retention. It also sees continuing pressure on pay-TV revenue due to online streaming alternatives.

Singtel, it said, is the least vulnerable among the incumbents to the entry of a new MNO, given its diversified income while M1 is the most exposed as it is the smallest and with greater reliance on the domestic market.

Fitch notes that the industry outlook could turn stable, from negative, if the upcoming spectrum auction fails to produce a new MNO. This, it said, should ease competition and improve margin and cash generation of incumbent telcos.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia