Bridge Mobile Receives International Headquarters (IHQ) Award from Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB)

Bridge Mobile Receives International Headquarters (IHQ) Award from EDB

Bridge Mobile Pte Ltd, a joint venture company formed by Asia Pacific’s leading mobile alliance group, Bridge Mobile Alliance, received the International Headquarters (IHQ) Award from Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) today.

Bridge Mobile Alliance was established in November 2004 by eight leading mobile operators in the region, namely, Airtel (India), CSL (Hong Kong), Globe Telecom (Philippines), Maxis (Malaysia), SingTel Mobile (Singapore), SingTel Optus (Australia), Taiwan Mobile (Taiwan) and Telkomsel (Indonesia). The alliance has set up its joint venture company in Singapore, Bridge Mobile Pte Ltd, to spearhead the development of its regional mobile business.

On the decision to establish its headquarters in Singapore, Dr. Patrick Sim, CEO of Bridge Mobile comments, “We have received strong support from EDB and are pleased to be given the IHQ award. Singapore is well established as a leading wireless and mobility hub in Asia Pacific, with excellent communications infrastructure and a robust business environment. Strategically located, Singapore is an ideal location for headquarters operations in the Asia Pacific region.”

Together, the group will invest up to US$40 million over the next three years to build and establish a regional mobile infrastructure that delivers seamless cross-border mobile services to its combined 80 million customer base across key markets in Asia Pacific. This also includes service incubation activities conducted by the group, to develop innovative mobile solutions in collaboration with leading global technology companies.

Bridge Mobile Alliance is committed to partner with global technology players, through its Associate Membership scheme, which aims to foster closer collaboration between member operators and technology players across the mobile service development value chain. Through this scheme, the alliance seeks to attract global technology leaders into Asia Pacific, to collaborate on the development of Asian-centric mobile technologies and services. Since its launch in August 2005, the scheme has attracted many leading industry players who have joined as technology associate members of the alliance.

Dr. Patrick Sim said, “We look forward to growing our regional mobile service development and innovation activities in Singapore, and in the process, attract many other global technology leaders across the mobile solutions value chain, from handset makers and network equipment solution providers to content players, to collaborate with us and to establish their development activities in Singapore.”

About the International Headquarters (IHQ) Award
EDB aims to establish Singapore as a premier international Headquarters (HQ) hub with a vibrant business eco-system that would be home to all types of HQs – big and small, from across industries and geographies.

The drive to systematically promote the presence of corporate HQs in Singapore began in the 1980s as part of the initiative to develop manufacturing and services as the twin engines of growth.

EDB has set a target of attracting 500 world-class companies to set up substantial HQ operations in Singapore by 2010.