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SingTel admits its wireless is slow, vows changes
(Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Southeast Asia's biggest telecoms firm, on Thursday acknowledged mobile Internet speeds in the city-state are slow and said it is introducing plans that offer more reliable connections.
Despite being a major Asian business centre with a tech-savvy image, Singapore is among the countries with the slowest mobile Internet speeds, according to checks by Google (GOOG.O).
Using a mobile device, a typical page takes an average of 12 seconds to load in Singapore, Google data shows.
That is far slower than the 4.6 to 6 seconds in Hong Kong and South Korea. Singapore's mobile data speeds even lag Vietnam but are faster than Malaysia and Indonesia.
SingTel (STEL.SI), the biggest of three mobile providers in Singapore with just under 50 percent of the market, said it has addressed the problem by offering higher-end plans - for a price - that promise narrower fluctuations in data speed.
More plans will become available as it rolls out its fourth-generation or 4G network. SingTel has also stopped offering unlimited download mobile plans to reduce network congestion.
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Singapore Exchange, Chi-X To Shut Dark Pool JV Due To Weak Volumes
Singapore Exchange Ltd. (S68.SG) and Chi-X Global Inc. Thursday said they will close their dark pool joint venture, Chi-East, due to weak volumes, less than two-years after its launch.
The closure is the latest setback for the city-state bourse's efforts to boost trading volumes and its profile as a global listing platform and comes just more than a year since its A$8.2 billion attempt to buy ASX Ltd. (ASX.AU), the operator of the Australian stock exchange, was blocked by Australia's foreign investment regulator.
"We weren't able to get to a point today where we were able to be commercial," Chi-East Chief Executive Ned Phillips told Dow Jones Newswires.
"In Asia, dark pool volumes are always a small part of the larger market as a whole but like anything in a market with lower volumes, it does make it harder."
Phillips said the 50-50 joint venture's last day of trading will be May 24.
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Genting Singapore Q1 net falls 33 pct, looks to expand
SINGAPORE, May 10 (Reuters) - Genting Singapore PLC, which owns one of Singapore's two multibillion-dollar casino complexes, posted a 33 percent fall in first quarter net profit on Thursday and said it was looking for new projects to expand its business.
"We took advantage of the favourable financial markets conditions and leveraged our brand name and management track record to raise S$2.3 billion ($1.83 billion) through the issue of perpetual subordinated capital securities," Chief Operating Officer Tan Hee Teck said during a conference call.
"The funds we raised will provide us with the firepower to identify and pursue new projects and grow our company."
Tan also said two junket operators licensed to help attract high-rollers to Genting's Singapore casino will contribute to gains in the medium term and that the company was happy with their initial performance.
Junket operators, known in Singapore as international marketing agents, organise visits to casinos and provide credit to players in return for commissions from casino owners.
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Singapore Air turns to regional cities to drive growth
(Reuters) - Singapore Airlines Ltd, the world's No.2 carrier by market value, will focus on flights to smaller Asian cities as a weak global economy batters demand on long-haul routes and competition from premium airlines intensifies.
SIA (SIAL.SI), which posted its first quarterly loss in more than two years on Wednesday, has been hammered by rising fuel costs and slower cargo and passenger volumes on routes to Europe and the United States.
Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways have also been grabbing a bigger share of premium passengers with high service standards, attractive deals and gleaming new planes.
"The results highlight SIA's lack of pricing power and erosion of brand value," brokerage UOB KayHian said in a report. "The decline in yields appears to indicate that the brand differentiation that SIA has enjoyed has finally eroded."
SIA, which has promoted itself as a prestigious global airline over the years, will focus on the network of Asian cities served by its regional arm SilkAir.
"SilkAir is very much part of SIA, and we have to leverage SIA's long haul (network) to connect into SilkAir's regional routes," said SIA's Chief Executive Goh Choon Phong, who took charge in January last year.
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U.S. warship deployment in Singapore may stir China's fears
US News: WASHINGTON, Spotlighting a move that may stir China's fears of U.S. involvement in South China Sea disputes, the first of a new class of U.S. coastal warships will be sent to Singapore next spring for a roughly 10-month deployment, the Navy said on Wednesday.
Deployment of the shallow-draft ship "Freedom" will help refine crew rotations, logistics and maintenance processes to maximize the class's value to U.S. combat commanders, Rear Admiral Thomas Rowden, the Navy's director of surface warfare, told reporters.
"We'll be deploying the ship for about 10 months in the spring of next year" to Singapore, he said in a teleconference. "In the meantime, we're prepping her for success in the execution of that deployment."
Singapore is strategically located along the Strait of Malacca, the chief link between the Indian and Pacific Oceans through which flows about 40 percent of world trade.
The government has discussed hosting up to four such U.S. "Littoral Combat Ships," or LCS, on a rotational basis at its naval facilities. Both countries have said the deployment stops short of a basing agreement.
U.S.
plans 10-month warship deployment to Singapore
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first of a new class of U.S. coastal warships will be sent to Singapore next spring for a roughly 10-month deployment, the Navy said on Wednesday, spotlighting a move that may stir China's fears of U.S. involvement in South China Sea disputes.
Deployment of the shallow-draft ship "Freedom" will help refine crew rotations, logistics and maintenance processes to maximize the class's value to U.S. combat commanders, Rear Admiral Thomas Rowden, the Navy's director of surface warfare, told reporters
JPMorgan sees $2 bil loss from trades gone bad
Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.00%) were off nearly 7% after hours today after the company said its corporate/private equity business expected to take an $800 million after-tax loss for the second quarter.
This stemmed from a paper loss of some $2 billion resulting from a hedge of the company's entire credit position. The hedge was "flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored," CEO Jamie Dimon said on a hastily organized conference call. Dimon was often curt during the call, reflecting his embarrassment at having to disclose the problem.
The losses could rise by an additional $1 billion, Dimon said, but he hoped the problem would be resolved by the end of the year.
The announcement could depress stocks on Friday. Futures trading suggests the Dow could open down at least 70 points.
Indian national arrested for rape at Sentosa beach party
Many women were seen in sexy bikinis at the beach party last weekend. (Photo / Stomp)
Woman cries rape on Sentosa beach
A young woman was allegedly raped at a Sentosa beach last weekend.
The police received a distress call at 2.25am on Sunday morning (6 May).
An Indian national working as a part-time lifeguard at Sentosa was arrested at the scene.
The alleged rape is believed to have taken place at a beach pavilion not far from a party that was taking place at Siloso Beach.
Sentosa Leisure Group deputy director of communications Suzanne Ho said that the man is a part-time worker who had ended his work for the day.
It is understood that his responsibilities include patrolling the beaches and handling its daily operations.
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Singapore PM Lee warns fewer foreign workers will spark inflation, slow economic growth
SINGAPORE - Singapore faces a higher inflation rate and slower economic growth as the government allows in fewer foreign workers, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned Monday.
A tight labour market has hindered the expansion plans for many companies and some businesses may leave Singapore, Lee said. Meanwhile, growing demand for workers should boost wages, which will increase business costs, undermine competitiveness and quicken inflation, Lee said.
The government has struggled to stem the inflow of foreign workers in the last couple of years amid a voter backlash against stagnant wages, crowded transportation infrastructure and higher housing costs. After their numbers surged during the last decade, foreign workers now account for about a third of Singapore's workforce.
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OPINION: Singapore’s next frontier - Matt Miller
Singaporeans couldn’t believe their ears.
“I’m sorry,” said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong just days before the election a year ago this week that dealt the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) its worst setback in the five decades since the island city-state became independent.
“If we didn’t get it right, I’m sorry,” Lee said. “But we will try better the next time.”
The unprecedented public apology may well have saved the PAP from a debacle. But the “new normal” ushered in by that vote (as well as a later vote for the more symbolic presidency, in which the PAP’s choice won by just a few thousand votes) has upended politics in Singapore. While the PAP lost just six of 87 seats in its unicameral parliament, the party won only 60 percent of the vote, and some key ministers were sent packing. One year on, it’s clear that public discontent has opened a new chapter in Singapore’s development that deserves the world’s attention.
Public frustration in Singapore today has a number of causes. For starters, for all its growth, Singapore has become one of the world’s most unequal societies. While its per capita income is among the world’s highest, per capita consumption and wages as a share of gross domestic product — both better reflections of the ordinary citizen’s lot — rank much lower. A massive influx of low-wage foreign workers in recent years — which has helped swell the population from 4 million to 5 million in just a decade (imagine adding 75 million people to America’s 300 million and you get a feel for the disruption) — has put downward pressure on middle- and lower-income Singaporeans’ wages. It’s also created a sense in some quarters that Singapore may be heaven for the multinational elites who set up shop here but hellish for too many of the natives who serve the food or sweep the streets
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