Mr. Teo Chee Hean (3rd from left), President of Singapore National Olympic Council, Deputy PM & Minister for Defence of Singapore, gamely poses with the Samsung Omnia Lite with Mr. Gregory Lee (fourth from left), President and CEO of Samsung Asia & senior executives from the Singapore Youth Olympic Council and Samsung South-east Asia.

CORP TALK: The world’s first Youth Olympic Games will be held in Singapore from 14-26 August 2010. Over 5,000 athletes, aged between 14-18 years old, and officials from 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will be competing in 26 sports and take part in a Culture and Education Program (CEP).

As part of its commitment as the Worldwide Partner for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games, Samsung Electronics will provide over 5,000 sets of Samsung Omnia Lite (B7300) mobile phones to athletes and key team officials.

These smart phones come preloaded with the “Digital Concierge for Singapore 2010″ app that will allow users to access Singapore 2010-related content and services anytime, anywhere.

The app lets them obtain personalized schedules on competition events and map content. They can also find out the latest sport results and get updates on the CEP activities. It’ll also come with fun, interactive mobile services for one-stop mobile social networking functionality.

CORP TALK: It has been in talks for months but it’s finally here. The two remaining telecom companies in Singapore - M1 & StarHub - will be joining SingTel when they launch the Apple iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS this Wednesday, 9 December 2009.

SingTel was the exclusive distributor of the iPhone 3G when it was first launched last year. It then brought in the iPhone 3GS on July 10 this year.

The Singapore team at HardwareZone.com has compiled a chart comparing the plans of all three telcos in the run-up to their impending launches.

Hit the link to check out the chart (prices are in Singapore dollars). (more…)

CORP TALK: Singapore’s exclusive Apple iPhone distributor and telco, SingTel, will be launching the iPhone 3GS on 10 July (Friday). The price plans for the 3GS has just gone up today here, or if you prefer, we’ve placed it here for your reference.

	Monthly fee (incl GST)	Bundled data (7.2Mbps)1	Bundled mins (outgoing)	Bundled SMS/MMS	iPhone 3G 8GB (from 10 July 09)	iPhone 3GS 16GB	iPhone 3GS 32GB
iFlexi Lite	$39	500MB	100	500	$398	$548	$678
iFlexi Value	$56	1GB	200	500	$138	$288	$438
iFlexi Plus	$95	2GB	500	500	$0	$0	$138
iFlexi Premium	$205	3GB	1500	1500	$0	$0	$0

¹Bundled data allowance is for a limited period only, and is only applicable to customers on 2-year iFlexi Plans. Bundled data allowance is for local usage only. Excess data charges apply. While roaming overseas, prevailing data roaming charges apply.

All prices for iPhone 3G 8GB, iPhone 3GS 16GB and 32GB are only avalaible at the pre-order site here. All prices will only be effective from 10 July 2009.

Apparently, the iFlexi plan for the 3GS is cheaper compared to the same plan for the iPhone 3G.

UPDATE 09/07/09: The guys over at HWM/HardwareZone.com Singapore have made two videos in relation to the Apple iPhone 3GS, which will be made available to Singapore-based SingTel subscribers on July 10. If you’re a current iPhone 3G user or you’re a new user, check out these videos to have a better understanding of the difference (and improvements) between these two models from our perspective.

Here’s a video made comparing speed differences between the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.

Do check here for a written coverage of the iPhone 3GS by the HWM Singapore/HardwareZone.com team online.

Among SingTel’s eight markets, its Indian associate, Bharti, of which SingTel owns a 30.4% stake, posted the biggest customer jump at 52% year-on-year.

CORP TALK: Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) has released a report announcing the company’s increased and combined regional mobile customer base, which has totalled 249 million as of 31 March 2009.

From a base covering eight countries - Australia (Optus), Bangladesh (PBTL), India (Bharti), Indonesia (Telkomsel), Pakistan (Warid), the Philippines (Globe), Singapore (SingTel) and Thailand (AIS), the company’s regional customer base has grown 7.3%, or 17 million on a sequential quarterly basis. Click here to see a breakdown of the stakes SingTel currently has in the various companies across the six other markets besides Singapore and Australia.

Besides India, SingTel also reported that Telkomsel grew its mobile customer base by 41% or 20.8 million year-on-year. The past quarter alone, ending 31 March 2009, saw the Indonesian operator adding 6.8 million customers to its base, with a market share increase of 3% to 49%. (more…)

T&A: Australia is set to build its biggest infrastructure project in the country’s history — a fast broadband Internet network worth around US$30 billion. Already, a Reuters report states that two of Australia’s largest telecommunications firms — Telstra Corp and rival SingTel-owned Optus — have submitted bids with the government to build the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Australia has been known for its slower and costly Internet access when compared to many other developed nations. Prior to the national plan, the government has been looking at tenders submitted by private corporations like Optus and Axia NetMedia for a fibre network promising speeds of up to 12 Megabits per second. (more…)