S'pore fixes license fees

S'pore fixes license fees

SINGAPORE (DPA): Singapore's government has announced it will fix license fees, rather than use bids, for firms hoping to enter the country's lucrative telecommunications market, reports said Saturday.

Local giant Singapore Telecom's long-time monopoly on the country's basic telecommunications will end on March 31, 2000. Successful candidates for the new basic telecommunications services would have to pay a one-time fee of S$10 million (US$7.1 million), Communications Minister Mah Bow Tan said.

There will be an additional annual fee of 1 percent of the licensees' audited annual gross turnover, with a minimum of S$1 million ($710,000) the first year, S$2 million ($1.4 million) the next year and S$3 million ($2.1 million) the third.

After the third year, a 1 percent fee with no minimum would apply, the minister said.