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ALL ROUND                                                                                                                    StarHub Ltd Annual Report 2015
SERVICES AVAILABLE Customers enjoy the seamless
HetNet
           coverage even as they move between
           different parts of the networks.

HetNet Heats Up                                    Meanwhile, in a separate trial in May, we         By the end of 2016, we  Overview
                                                   successfully demonstrated a whopping              plan to further expand
Our Network team is very much on top of            600Mbps peak download speed using               HetNet coverage to some
the most advanced mobile technologies              Nokia Network’s 4X4 MIMO technology             40 commercial buildings
in the industry and we are eager to put this       with LTE-Advanced carrier Aggregation.          and shopping malls such
know-how to good use for our customers.            This was a first for the mobile industry of      as nex and Jem, as well
While the basic island-wide mobile networks        Southeast Asia.                                  as the KK Women’s and
are up and running, we can always make
additional improvements and upgrades to            We are just getting warmed up. Beginning            Children’s Hospital.
boost speeds and capacity.                         with Marina Bay Sands, we have been
                                                   steadily expanding our HetNet coverage                                    Strategy
More importantly, we are doing so in a more        with help from both Huawei and Nokia.
cost-effective manner. Rather than building        Our HetNet now also covers Marina Bay                                     Performance
entirely new networks, we integrate the            City Gallery, The Esplanade, The Float@
different networks together.                       Marina Bay, The Promontory@Marina Bay,                                    Governance & Sustainability
                                                   The Fullerton Heritage, The Padang and War
Broadly called HetNet, it refers to networks       Memorial Park.
that are typically a mix of macro base
stations and small cells. Quite often,             By the end of 2016, we plan to further
enterprise-grade Wi-Fi access points are part      expand HetNet coverage to some 40
of the networks as well. We do not require         commercial buildings and shopping
our customers to remember all these; we just       malls such as nex and Jem, as well as the
want them to enjoy the seamless coverage           KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. We will
even as they move between different parts of       also conduct tests to integrate enterprise-
the networks.                                      grade Wi-Fi at the Jurong Lake District, where
                                                   there is an IDA HetNet trial.
We have been working closely with our
infrastructure partners, drawing on where          Thanks, 2G
they can offer optimal solutions that give
us a good balance between shareholders’            With the range of new technology options
demands and our customers’ satisfaction.           available, it makes sense to move on from
                                                   what has served us well. In June, all three
In January, together with Huawei, we               mobile operators announced that they will
deployed its Lampsite indoor coverage              no longer provide 2G voice, messaging and
solution at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.       data services from 1 April 2017. 2G services
This expansive mall has an indoor floor space      have been around since 1994. 3G, offering a
of some 800,000 sq ft. This easily deployed        much faster speed, began to run in tandem
solution lets us build on existing infrastructure  but now, with the much more advanced 4G
by combining different spectrum bands into         already the mainstay of mobile networks in
a single platform that is able to achieve peak     Singapore, it makes sense for the industry to
throughput rates of 300Mbps.                       free up 2G spectrums for the more advanced
                                                   3G and 4G services instead.
This initiative was recognised when in
October, we were jointly presented with the        We appreciate that a very small percentage
‘Best Innovation in Heterogeneous Networks’        of customers are still using 2G-only mobile
at LTE Asia Awards 2015.                           devices. We will reach out to them to ease
                                                   the transition, and we trust they will look
                                                   forward to a richer mobile experience with                                Financials
                                                   what we are already offering.
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