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Photo credit: moisseyev / 123RF.

Singaporean internet provider MyRepublic is heading to Australia, it announced this morning. The company that would be Singapore’s fourth telco hasn’t forgotten about its main business – bringing fast fiber internet to markets in Asia Pacific. It plans to bring its unlimited fiber broadband service to the land down under in mid-November.

Australia could be MyRepublic’s biggest market yet.

When it comes to internet speeds, Australia is ranked 48th in the world according to Akamai’s latest State of the Internet report. Web speeds average 8.5 Mbps, where Singapore clocks in at around 17.5 Mbps. South Korea, the current global champion, sprints at an average speed of 27 Mbps.

“[Australia is] just starting to break free from data caps and learning what fiber-powered connectivity has to offer,” says MyRepublic CEO Malcolm Rodrigues in a statement.

Besides Singapore, MyRepublic operates in Indonesia and New Zealand. Australia could be its biggest market yet, but also its most challenging considering the breadth of competitors there, including players like Telstra, Vodafone, and Virgin.

And then there were four

At the same time, MyRepublic is gearing up for a bid at becoming Singapore’s fourth telecommunications provider next to established players Singtel, Starhub, and M1. The company announced last February it was raising US$180 million (S$250 million) to fund its bid.

Reports around June threw doubt on the company’s fortunes but MyRepublic claimed at the time it had managed to raise half the funds it needed for the bid and has been profitable since January 2016. It did confirm it was burning money in Indonesia.

Last March, the company unveiled some competitive mobile data plans it could start offering if its bid is successful, prompting an arms race of data offers among the rest of Singapore’s telcos.

Meanwhile, in May, alternative mobile telco Circles.Life debuted in Singapore, offering competitive mobile data plans through a mobile virtual network powered by M1.

Converted from Singapore dollars. US$1 – S$1.38

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