SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Lim Chong Kin, Drew & Napier LLC
In contrast, only an SBO licence is required if applicants intend to lease telecommunication network elements from any FBO licensee to pro - vide telecommunication services (eg, IP telepho - ny services), or to resell the telecommunication services of such FBO licensees to third parties. While there are two licensing schemes under the SBO framework (ie, class licensing and individ - ual licensing), operators that lease international transmission capacity for the provision of their services are usually required to obtain an SBO (Individual) Licence. The SBO (Class) Licence is a licensing scheme where the terms and con - ditions are gazetted in the Telecommunications (Class Licences) Regulations. Anyone who provides services within the scope of the SBO (Class) Licence will be deemed to have read and agreed to the terms and condi - tions of the class licence. The IMDA’s licensing framework is formulat - ed on a hierarchical basis, with FBO licences placed on a higher level than SBO licences. This means that FBO licensees are able to offer tel - ecommunication services that would ordinarily require an SBO licence without having to obtain a separate SBO licence, but not vice versa. If an SBO licensee subsequently wishes to under - take FBO-related activities (such as deploying or operating any telecommunication network, sys - tems or facilities), it will need to apply for a new FBO licence to replace its existing SBO licence. Eligibility, Fees and Charges In terms of eligibility, the IMDA’s current practice is to issue FBO licences only to Singapore-incor - porated companies, although such companies can be wholly owned by a foreign entity. In the case of SBO (Individual) licences, local regis - tered branches of foreign companies are eligible
to apply, while SBO (Class) licences may also be held by limited liability partnerships or lim - ited partnerships. Further details regarding the application process for an FBO or SBO licence and the information required can be found in the respective application guidelines issued by the IMDA on its website. In terms of applicable fees and charges, FBO licensees are subject to a minimum annual recur - rent licence fee of SGD80,000 or SGD200,000 (depending on whether the licensee is an FBO or a designated public telecommunication licen - see), with further fees chargeable as a percent - age of their incremental annual gross turnover (AGTO) exceeding SGD50 million as follows: • 0.8% of the incremental AGTO between SGD50 million and SGD100 million; and • 1% of the incremental AGTO above SGD100 million. SBO (Individual) licensees are subject to a mini - mum annual recurrent licence fee of SGD4,000, with further fees chargeable as a percentage of their incremental AGTO exceeding SGD50 mil - lion as follows: • 0.5% of the incremental AGTO between SGD50 million and SGD100 million; and • 0.8% of the incremental AGTO above SGD100 million. At the time of writing, there are no annual recur - rent licence fees for SBO (Class) licensees. Depending on the type of services provided, SBO (Class) licensees may need to make a one- time payment of SGD200 upon registration with the IMDA.
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