OpenNet recently won the NetCo segment of the NGNBN. The consortium comprised Canada’s Axia NetMedia, and Singapore’s SingTel, SPH and Singpower Group. Although it might have been painted as a close “two-horse” race, I doubt if there were ever any questions as to who was going to win the bid. With the government putting up $750m to fund the NGNBN NetCo passive network, it could not afford to place its bets on the Infinity network, which would have faced stiff, cutthroat competition from SingTel, had the latter not won the tender.

And now that SingTel’s consortium has won the bid, the long term outlook for StarHub doesn’t look pretty. StarHub’s franchise lies with its cable network and its strong programming line-up. It keeps customers and prevents churn by using its exclusive cable infrastructure to tighten its stranglehold on the telecoms market with strong triple & quadruple play packages.

StarHub stock price to date (source: UOB KH)

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