Singtel to stop copper-based networks starting next year

Singapore Telecommunications said it will accelerate fiber-based service adoption for its business and residential customers.

singtel
Reuters

Singapore Telecommunications said it will accelerate fiber-based service adoption for its business and residential customers in a bid to support government's Smart Nation initiative.

Fibre-based networks deliver speeds of up to 100 giga bytes per second and provides the connectivity needed in the Smart Nation envisioned by Singapore, it said in a statement on Monday.

"Fibre-based networks today is capable of offering far greater speeds and supporting a much wider range of services than the prevailing copper-based networks," said Wong Soon Nam, vice president, consumer products at Singtel.

In line with this push, Singtel will cease copper deployment to commercial buildings that obtain temporary occupation permit (TOP) status from April 2018 and will serve customers in these buildings using fibre-based networks.

Commercial buildings that obtain TOP status before April 2018 will not be affected, the company said.

Singtel will also shut copper-based asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) that support broadband, TV, Digital Voice and private network services by early 2018.

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