The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has revised the annual licence fees payable by its licensed Facilities-based Operators1 (FBOs) and Services-Based Operators2 (Individual) (SBOs). The revision will result in a significant reduction of FBO and SBO licence fees for a large majority of licensees, including small to medium sized licensees. The new fee structure is a result of IDA's review of its licensing framework, taking into consideration feedback from operators, the need to enhance the competitiveness of the licence fees, and the changing industry landscape, especially with the deployment of the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN).
Under the new fee structure, which will take effect at the start of a licensee's financial year in the year 2013, all FBOs will benefit from a reduction of between 20 per cent and 75 per cent in annual licence fees from 2013, while most SBOs will see a drop of 20 per cent in licence fees.
Since the last licence fee revision in 2001, FBOs have been paying, as annual licence fees, one per cent of their annual gross turnover (AGTO), subject to a minimum of $100,000, while SBOs, which lease FBOs' network to provide telecom services, have paid a flat fee of $5,000 annually. Under the revised licence fee framework, FBOs will pay a reduced flat fee of $80,000 for the first $50 million of their AGTO, followed by 0.8 per cent of the incremental AGTO between $50 million and $100 million, and one per cent of the incremental AGTO above $100 million. SBOs will be subject to a similar tiered fee structure, i.e. pay a reduced flat fee of $4,000 for the first $50 million of their AGTO, followed by 0.5 per cent of the incremental AGTO between $50 million and $100 million, and 0.8 per cent of the incremental AGTO above $100 million (or 0.25 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively for the first year of transition for the SBOs). Over the next five years, the total amount of licence fee revenue collected by IDA from FBOs and SBOs could fall by $15 million to $20 million.
Continue Reading
IDA Significantly Reduces Licence Fees for Most Facilities-Based Operators and Services-Based Operators
