SingTel completes nationwide LTE coverage

SingTel announced on Tuesday that it has completed nationwide LTE (Long Term Evolution) coverage to support the high speed 4G mobile network.

In a statement to media, it said it had spent S$150 million to provide nationwide 4G coverage. LTE is the next evolution of mobile networks which is expected to offer higher speeds and lower latencies. Commonly referred as the fourth generation (4G) mobile network, the LTE network delivers theoretical download speeds of up to 75Mbps.

SingTel subscribers can now access nationwide street-level coverage of about 95 per cent. This includes indoor coverage in over 550 buildings, including shopping malls, hotels and other commercial properties but does not yet cover national parks, reservoirs and MRT tunnels.

Singtel's 3G network has also been upgraded from 21Mbps to 42Mbps. The telco added that it is the first to offer dual-band street-level coverage nationwide in Singapore. This dual-band capability doubles the data-handling capacity of the network, and helps relieve the strain during peak periods for multimedia applications such as video and music streaming, web surfing, file downloads and online games.

The telco is also the first in the country to deploy Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology in commercial buildings to boost maximum user download speeds from 75Mbps to 150 Mbps. This has already been installed in shopping malls including Nex, Jurong Point, Tampines Mall and Changi Airport.

But customers are unlikely to be able to fully leverage the faster LTE network until the introduction of the next generation of 4G LTE devices which is being rolled out from the second half of the year.

M1 was the first telco to announce nationwide coverage for its LTE network last year. Starhub is scheduled to complete nationwide LTE coverage for its network by the end of 2013.


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