Singapore Telecommunications

Singapore Telecommunications is a telecommunications group offering a wide range of services such as mobile, data, and internet services, as well as info-communications technology and pay-television. One of the largest public-listed companies in Singapore by market capitalization, Singtel has significant stakes in telecommunications companies in India, Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand.

Early history

The telephone was first introduced in Singapore in 1879 when a 50-line exchange was set up by Bennett Pell, the local manager of the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company. Singapore was reported to be the first city in the East to have a telephone system.

In July 1882, Singapore’s phone network was operated by the Oriental Telephone and Electric Company. The company constructed its first Public Telephone Exchange with facilities for 60 telephone lines linking business houses like Behn Meyer & Co, Chartered Bank, and The Singapore Stock Exchange. In 1907, OTEC was replaced by a new Central Telephone Exchange
in Hill Street. The telephone service in Singapore was automated in April 1930. On 1 December 1937, the telephone service went international and inaugurated the first call connection between London and Singapore. In 1955, the network was taken over by the British colonial government, which established the Singapore Telephone Board.

STB merged with the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore in 1974 to form Telecoms. This entity then merged with the Postal Service Department in 1982. Singapore installed its one millionth phone line by 1990, and in 1994 became one of the first countries in the world to have a completely digital telephone network. A nation-wide broadband Integrated Services Digital
The network was also put in place in the early 1990s.

Learning Outcomes:

• Understand the reasons behind the organization’s changing the structure and location of HR service provision.
• Understand the different HR service delivery models available to contemporary organizations.
• Understand the challenges involved in maintaining and managing HR services and how standards are established and monitored