service provider regulations
FAQ for customers purchasing Singapore Domestic Services
This document provides summary information for customers purchasing Singapore Domestic Services. It is provided as general guidance for Symbio’s wholesale customers and is not to be distributed.
Symbio has taken reasonable steps to provide information which it considers accurate as of the date of this document however the information is high-level and may be incomplete. It is not intended to be relied on as legal advice.
Customers are recommended to obtain their own legal advice in relation to their legal and regulatory obligations.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is the telecommunications regulator of Singapore. Its responsibilities include oversight of the licensing regime.
Under Singapore law, anyone who provides a telecommunications service or operates a network in Singapore must have the relevant telecommunications licence (SBO or FBO – refer below) and is regulated by the IMDA.
In general terms, a telecommunications service is any service for telecommunications, and a telecommunication system is any system used or intended to be used for telecommunications.
The Service-Based Operations (SBO) License allows an operator to provide services-based telecommunications services in Singapore.
Further information about SBO licensing.
The Facilities Based Operations (FBO) Licence is for operators intending to deploy any form of telecommunication network, systems, and facilities to offer telecommunication switching and/or telecommunication services to other licensed telecommunication operators, business, and/or consumers.
Further information about FBO licensing.
Licenses permit customers to sell specific kinds of services, not all kinds of services. It is important that the license permits the holder to sell the kind of services appropriate to the holder in Singapore. Other licenses may be required for sale of telecommunications equipment or for other services.
Typically, if a person is billing telecommunications services in Singapore, then they would require either an SBO or FBO Licence.
If a person is not deploying any form of telecommunication infrastructure in Singapore and is not seeking allocation of numbers directly from IMDA (e.g., because they are leasing numbers from Symbio Networks), then typically an SBO License will be sufficient.
SBO Licenses may be individual, or class based, depending on the kind of services to be licensed.
The IMDA’s guidelines state that successful applicants for the SBO (Individual) Licence will be awarded their licence within fourteen (14) working days of application submission, provided that all the necessary information has been submitted and that the IMDA has completed all necessary clarifications. Applicants for the SBO (Class) Licence will be registered upon submission of complete information and payment of registration fees (if any).
Licence fees for SBO (Individual) Licenses start at $4000 annually (for the first S$50M in annual gross turnover). For SBO (Class) Licenses a one-time licence fee of S$200 applies.
For a company to be granted an FBO or SBO Licence by the IMDA, the company can be foreign owned but must be incorporated under the Singapore Companies Act (cap. 50).
An SBO Licence may also be granted to a foreign owned company which is not incorporated under the Singapore Companies Act, but which has a branch registered in Singapore.
Company incorporation is regulated by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). A number of local providers can assist with company secretarial and related services.
Further information about setting up a Singapore company.
Note that Symbio Connect customers are not authorised to sell services under the Symbio brand, and Symbio does not bill on behalf of its customer.
Symbio Connect customers are encouraged to obtain their own advice in relation to the Singapore regulatory and compliance obligations which will apply to their business, including any requirement for licenses.
Compliance obligations vary depending on whether you as our customer provide (sell) telecommunications services or simply consume them. We break down our customers into two types:
'Service Providers’ are those customers who provide (sell) telecommunications services using the services we provide them in Singapore. Typically, large domestic or international technology and communications providers.
'Enterprise’ are those customers who do not provide telecommunications services using the services we provide (sell) them in Singapore. Enterprise customers would use the services we provide them within their own business.
Service Providers deliver communications services under their own Singapore Telecommunications Licence and company branding.
Service Providers are regulated by the IMDA. Among various licence conditions, service providers are required to maintain and keep a subscriber / end user register. If they have local 'retailers', they are also required to maintain a register of these retailers too.
This information is used for regulatory compliance and audit purpose.
Enterprise customers do not sell/resell telecommunications services. An Enterprise customer will usually not require a Singapore Telecommunications Licence. However, other industry licenses may be required, depending on the nature of the business.
Singapore Telecommunication Licenses typically include obligations to maintain and keep an up-to- date current register of retailers and a register of subscribers.
This is to be used for verification of information in those registers and to make that information available to the regulator, law enforcement agencies and others if requested.
Please be aware that subscriber register data is not used by emergency services in Singapore.
Symbio Connect customers must comply with these obligations by registering their customers' details in the subscriber register. Your licence conditions provide specific details about the type of information to be collected and the verification which is required.
Both Symbio and it's customers are responsible for ensuring compliance with license conditions and other legal and regulatory obligations, and this is reflected in our contracts.
Symbio’s FBO Licence conditions requires us to maintain a register of customer details for numbers sold. We record the details of the “Authorised Officer” supplied by our customer in this registry.
Our customers’ Authorised Officer is a local point of contact should there be any law enforcement queries regarding the use of numbers. Please be aware of the need to comply with your own license conditions with respect to maintaining a subscriber registry of end user details.
Our customers must provide Symbio with any updates or changes to their business details and Authorised Officers contact information as they occur.
As part of Symbio’s customer onboarding and provisioning process, all customers will be required to complete an Authorised Officer form. This can be obtained in the Symbio Customer Portal, the Symbio User Guide, or via your Symbio Account Manager.
The purpose of this form is for Symbio to capture and record the person who is appointed by the customer as the Authorised Officer representing the customer.
The Authorised Officer named in that form will be recorded in our register of subscribers as the point of contact for the numbers leased to the customer.
Those details will be provided to the regulator and law enforcement agencies and others if requested. For Series 6 (S6) numbers this person must be located be in Singapore.
In the event that you intend to change or reappoint another person to become your respective Authorised Officer, you are required to fill out and resubmit a new Appointment of Authorised Officer form, noting the following:
In addition, the Applicant is to take note of the following:
For further information on the Authorised Officer form, please refer to Symbio's User Guide.
Singapore has a unique telephone and mobile numbering system that may be unfamiliar to some international providers. In Singapore, Symbio provides services for the following number types:
S3 Number beginning with the digit ‘3’ are reserved for use for IP Telephony (IPT) services and User-Centric Data-Only (UCDO) service. The length of these numbers is standardised at eight digits.
The first four digits of the 8-digit numbers (e.g., 3ABC XXXX) which uniquely define a set of numbers are referred as a number series. S3 number services can be provided to End User/Subscriber based in any location globally.
Number porting is not available for S3 numbers.
Calling to 999 (Police) & 995 (Fire and Ambulance) from S3 numbers is not supported.
Numbers beginning with the digit ‘6’ are reserved for use for PSTN service and IP Telephony (IPT) services. The length of these numbers is standardised at eight digits.
The first four digits of the 8-digit numbers (e.g., 6ABC XXXX) which uniquely define a set of numbers are referred as a number series.
S6 number services can only be provided to Singapore based End User/Subscriber who have a Singapore registered and billing address, which has been verified.
Number porting is available for S6 numbers.
Calling to 999 (Police) & 995 (Fire and Ambulance) from S6 numbers is supported.
Singapore local Toll-free number service – also known as local toll free, free phone or free call numbers uses the 1800 service numbers (11 digits).
This service allows calls to be made to 1800 numbers from Singapore PSTN and mobile numbers. Calls from Singapore PSTN numbers to the 1800 number are free. Calls from mobiles to the 1800 number may incur mobile call charges for the caller. This service does not support calls to be made to the 1800 number from outside Singapore.
To order 1800 numbers the end customer must be a company or business which is registered in Singapore. Please note there is a 12 month minimum term and these numbers cannot be ported in or out.
Symbio customers will receive calls made to the 1800 number as the ‘Called’ (B-party) number to their SIP trunk.
Note that Symbio Connect customers are not authorised to sell services under the Symbio brand, and Symbio does not bill on behalf of its customer.
Symbio Connect customers are encouraged to obtain their own advice in relation to the Singapore regulatory and compliance obligations which will apply to their business, including any requirement for
licenses.
Scam calls refer to malicious actors making scam calls from overseas often masking their country code or impersonating (spoofing) local numbers to mislead victims into believing that these calls are from legitimate sources such as government agencies.
It can be difficult for individuals to detect if an incoming call uses a spoofed number. The Singapore authorities have been working with the telecommunication operators in Singapore to better protect the public from spoof calls.
The ‘+’ sign prefix will be presented on all CLIs for all international incoming calls. ‘International incoming calls’ refers to calls that are routed in from overseas and are to be terminated in Singapore.
In addition, Symbio will block all international incoming calls with a CLI beginning ‘65 6’ or ‘6’ and which contain 10 digits that are intended to terminate to Singapore local numbers.
Domestically originated Singapore calls will not display the ‘+’ sign prefix for the CLI of the call. This measure will help consumers who are not expecting any overseas calls to be more vigilant and exercise greater care when answering calls showing a ‘+’ prefix.
‘Singapore local numbers’ refers to all numbers that IMDA (Singapore Regulator) has allocated for local telephony services, e.g., all number series starting with ‘3’, ‘6’, ‘8’ and ‘9’, and any other number series that IMDA may subsequently allocate for local telephony services.
To further reduce call spoofing, each carrier in Singapore is required to only accept calling from numbers they have allocated to their own customers, there is no call transit market in Singapore.
Reports of scam to the Singapore Police Force can result in an order by the Singapore Police Force to Symbio to suspend services and provide subscriber information relating to that number.
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