MyRepublic is a multinational Internet company headquartered in Singapore. The company was formed to leverage Singapore's Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN). Since its initial launch in 2011, the company has expanded to three other countries - Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. MyRepublic primarily offers fibre broadband services in all four countries as well as ADSL plans in Australia, VDSL services in New Zealand, and cable TV packages in Indonesia. The company has a combined subscriber base of 200,000 across the four countries.
History[]
MyRepublic was launched on February 16, 2012 by Malcolm Rodrigues, a former Vice President of StarHub International and Wholesale; KC Lai, a former StarHub Senior VP of Consumer Sales; and Greg Mittman, previously a lead of Alcatel-Lucent's National Broadband Network Team. The company launched with fibre internet plans offering speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s. In 2012, the company had 32 full-time staff in its employ, 450 resellers of their services, around 10,000 subscribers and more than SGD $5 million in revenue. Rodrigues attributed the growth of the company to its “thin operator model” which does not rely on costly legacy infrastructure.[1] In February, the company launched GAMER packages, becoming the first Internet service provider in Singapore to offer fibre broadband plans specifically catered towards gamers.[2] In 2013, MyRepublic launched Teleport, a VPN-like service, which allowed users to stream content from online services from around the world like Hulu, Pandora, Netflix and BBC iPlayer using non-traditional VPN methods.[3] The company also opened its flagship store at Ang Mo Kio Hub.[4] By then, MyRepublic held a 17 percent market share of the fibre broadband consumer market and established itself in a short time as a disruptive influence.[5]
In January 2014, MyRepublic launched its 1 Gbit/s fibre broadband plan, a move which made Singapore the world's first country to offer 1 Gbit/s on a nationwide basis.[6] At $49.99 per month, the plan was eight times cheaper than local telcos M1 Limited and StarHub were then offering. The introduction of this plan initiated heavy price competition amongst the telcosTemplate:Clarify, and by year end, both M1 and Singtel lowered their 1 Gbit/s fibre broadband plans to price points similar to of MyRepublic.[7] MyRepublic also announced its entry into the New Zealand ISP market.[8]
Later in May, the company received a US$3.5 million investment from Indonesian energy company Dian Swastatika Sentosa, part of Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas.[9]
In June, MyRepublic declared its interest in being Singapore's fourth telco, with plans for a 4G mobile plan with unlimited data.[10] MyRepublic submitted documents in response to a call for proposal by the IMDA on ways to increase the competitiveness of the mobile market and optimized usage of the radio spectrum.
Later in July, the company received a US$24 million investment. The two investors were Sunshine Network, a telecommunications arm of Sinar Mas and invested over S$20 million (US$16 million), while Xavier Niel, founder of French telecommunications company Free, put in S$10 million (US$8 million). In July 2015, MyRepublic launched services in Indonesia at an initial nine locations.[11] Later in May, the company announced the launch of Singapore's first ever 1 Gbit/s no contract fiber broadband plan.[12]
In September, the company raised US$16 million in a funding round led by Brunei telecommunications major DST Communications.[13] In October, MyRepublic held a Mobility Trial as part of IMDA's trial of HetNet, or heterogeneous network, in Jurong Lake District. The trial was limited to 1,000 trial users and confined to certain areas such as malls, public housing blocks, bus interchange and MRT train station.[14]
In 2016, MyRepublic launched MySDN, its first enterprise connectivity service, available to customers across the region, including Singapore, Indonesia, and New Zealand.[15] In November, MyRepublic launched in Australia with plans offering 100 Mbit/s download speeds and no data limits for a flat rate of AU $59.95 per month.[16] The Australian launch did not go smoothly, with reports in local media indicating significant customer disappointment at the download speeds and service of connection.[17] Following up from their declaration of interest back in 2014, the company officially submitted its bid for the New Entrant Spectrum Auction (NESA) to become Singapore's 4th telco in September, along with two other companies, Australian telco TPG Telecom and airYotta.[18] Out of the three companies, only TPG and MyRepublic were assessed to be a pre-qualified candidates for the New Entrant Spectrum Auction (NESA). In December, the results of the auction were announced, where TPG Telecom outbid MyRepublic to win the 4th telco grant.[19]
By 1 September, MyRepublic had 150 employees and 60,000 fibre broadband subscribers in Singapore. In 2017, the company announced it would launch 1 Gbit/s National Broadband Network (NBN) services throughout Wollongong.[20]
In May, there was news that the company was looking for private equity backing to bid for the Singaporean Telecommunication company M1. This would allow the company to get back into the Singapore Telco race after losing the bid to become Singapore's fourth telco to TPG group.[21]
References[]
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links[]
Template:Navboxes