• Subsidiaries receive licences from IDA

Singapore, 29 March 2000 - Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte Ltd (ST Telemedia) today announced that three of its wholly-owned subsidiaries have been awarded four licences to become facilities and services-based operators by Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore. The licences applied by the three subsidiaries are:

- Services-based operator (SBO) (individual) licence by stt.com
- Facilities-based operator (FBO) licence by ST Teleport
- Services-based operator (SBO) (individual and class) licence by ST SunPage

The licences

stt.com is licensed to offer public internet access services, internet exchange services and virtual private network (VPN) services through public switched telephone, data and integrated digital network system services, private leased circuits and the internet.

ST Teleport and ST SunPage have received licences to provide international telecommunications gateway services, and International Simple Resale (ISR), callback/ call re-origination, International Calling Card (ICC) and resale of public switched telecommunication services, respectively.

"The licence award is a significant milestone for STT's vision and operations. It is a testament of STT's emergence as a leading services and facilities based telecommunications company," said Mr. Lee Theng Kiat, President of STT. "The licence approval is given based on our subsidiaries' satisfactory service and facility blueprint, along with our successful track record for our existing operations. With these licences, STT through its subsidiaries will be equipped to provide a wider range of telecommunications services to our Singapore customers and beyond."

The new service offering by stt.com

stt.com is a one-stop e-business enabler for companies with business dealings in the region. It aims to build a technologically-advanced 10-city managed IP e-business networked infrastructure comprising five WebCentres™ (including Singapore) and six points-of-presence (POPs) in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of year 2000.

The new licence permits stt.com to complete its service offerings to offer Internet exchange and VPN services, thus completing its full suite of e-commerce services and solutions. The company will build an extensive e-business networked infrastructure to support mission critical, high-value Internet-based applications and e-business applications.

The new service offering by ST Teleport

ST Teleport operates one of the most state-of-the-art and comprehensive satellite communications facilities in Asia-Pacific. It is already licensed to provide satellite uplink/ downlink services for broadcasting applications.

With the new licence, ST Teleport will provide international gateway services for voice and data communication to corporations and telecommunications service providers in Singapore and the region.

The new service offering for ST SunPage

ST SunPage is Singapore's largest and most successful paging operator amongst the new entrants.

Under the new licence, ST SunPage will offer a comprehensive portfolio of services including International Direct Dial (IDD), pre-paid calling card, International Calling Card (ICC) and public cellular mobile phone services.

It will leverage on its paging experience, extensive sales distribution channel and subscriber base to market these services.

As of December 1999, Sunpage has 185,000 paging subscriptions. Since the inception of Sunpage WorldDial in December 1999, the company has registered over 4,000 corporate and personal accounts. Today, subscription for both services continues to record impressive industry growth rates.