S'pore IDA offers incentives

S'pore IDA offers incentives

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore is offering tax and other incentives to attract foreign telecommunication companies to invest in the country's upcoming auction of third generation, or 3G, telecommunication network licenses, the Straits Times reported Saturday.

However, the IDA won't grant foreign players open access to existing mobile phone networks, it added.

The newspaper quoted IDA spokesperson Dulcie Chan as saying that a variety of incentives, including tax incentives, are being offered to prospective investors.

Chan said, however, that the IDA doesn't plan to grant foreign players open access to existing second generation, or 2G, mobile phone networks.

Citing unnamed sources, the report said that mandatory open access to existing 2G networks figures at the top of foreign telecommunication companies' wish lists as it would help them save huge sums of money by way of costs of rolling out 3G networks.