SingTel (a Singapore telephone company) has a 21 percent shareholding in AIS and has made significant shareholding investments in other telephone companies in the region and providing them with business and technical assistance and improvements at times instead of just passive shareholding.
Melbourne's The Age newspaper ran an article on Tuesday reporting the second largest telco in Australia, Optus, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingTel, is working with SingTel and Advanced to launch the iPhone throughout the region.
Information at the SingTel website reports the group's major investments in the region include five other countries listed below:
Bharti Telecom Group in India
Globe Telecom in the Philippines
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom (PBTL) in Bangladesh
Telkomsel in Indonesia
Warid Telecom in Pakistan
It claims the group has more than 136 million mobile customers in eight markets and this is the largest mobile customer base in Asia outside of China.
Other than SingTel, most of these cellular carrier companies are number two or three in market share terms in their individual home market. Yet they represent respectable market share in all of them. Each has a respected record of competing in their markets for several years (generally by being seen to improve service and prices), have had SingTel's capital investment (and possibly technical and business assistance) and are attracting more customers to their company offerings.
While they do possess a wide variety of network infrastructures and cellular systems that would provide technical challenges to overcome and perhaps requiring iPhone handsets working on different frequencies, these seem very solvable. Third generation cell networks are in the future for many as well. The odd member out is Pacific Bangladesh as it only operates a CDMA network. All the rest have GSM networks in place.
If viewed more as a singular entity the group represent a customer base double in size that ATT had when the US launch took place.
While these individual markets generally don't have the same level of disposable income that Americans and Europeans have it would nevertheless represent a very good long-term deal by Apple to launch into for this region. The cellular telephone markets are growing as development occurs.
SingTel's influence and assistance in these companies, their business and their networks would be very convenient in this effort for a deal like this. There will be business issues to overcome but it would be easier for Apple to have the same important shareholder in eight companies and countries moving their partner along toward the regional deal and eventual implementation on their individual networks.
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