SINGAPORE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PTE LTD (Revenue)

Mr Heng Chiang Meng asked the Minister for Communications if he will state the revenue collected by the Singapore Telecommunications Pte Ltd in respect of three user-groups, namely, business (with PABX), business (without PABX) and domestic, from 1st December 1991, when the time-based charging system was instituted, up to the latest available date and how these figures compare to those of the corresponding period of the previous year.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, Singapore Telecommunications Pte Ltd (ST) does not keep records of revenue collected from business lines with PABX and those without PABX. Since the sale of PABX equipment was liberalised in 1989, ST does not differentiate lines which are connected to PABX equipment from other business lines.

For the 14-month period from 1st December 1991 to 31st January 1993, ST collected $117 million from business lines and $155 million from residential lines. Based on the flat rental system, ie, the old system, ST would have collected $124 million from business lines and $160 million from residential lines for the same period. In other words, with time-based charging, ST collected $7 million less from business lines and $5 million less from residential lines.