Singapore regulator IDA (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore) has issued a warning to the country’s largest mobile operator Singtel over a negative marketing campaign against its competitors M1 and StarHub.

The warning follows IDA completing an investigation. 
IDA said in a statement that it “is disappointed that such marketing tactics have been employed. IDA has always encouraged licensees to compete by promoting the availability, price and quality of their own services, and not by disparaging those of their competitors… IDA will not tolerate such practices.”

The regulator has requested that Singtel put in place measures to ensure appropriate management oversight and control over its marketing and advertising campaigns to prevent such incidents in the future and that it should not “adopt publicity practices or campaigns that may potentially bring disrepute to the telecoms industry.”

Singtel has a 50 per cent market share, while StarHub has a 26 per cent share and M1 a 23 per cent share, according to GSMA Intelligence. The city-state has a population of 5.6 million and 70 per cent of subscribers have mobile broadband connections.