Total Number of Outgoing Retail International Telephone Call Minutes
Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) publishes monthly statistics on outgoing retail international telephone call minutes from Singapore, including series with transit traffic per official methodology notes. Two CSV datasets let telecom analysts compare retail-only and inclusive figures after historical revisions from 2001 and expanded SBO reporting from 2004. Researchers studying Singapore as a voice hub can ground trends in IMDA’s documented scope changes. This collection supports long-run open-data analysis of international call volumes.
Official description
Following full liberalisation of the telecoms market, Singapore's international telephone services market has grown considerably both in the diversity of such services available as well as in the number of operators offering these services. As Singapore continues to develop as a hub for international voice traffic, including transit and regional traffic in our published statistics will provide a more holistic picture of the vibrancy and growth of the entire international telephone services market in Singapore.
Thus, this figure includes total retail outgoing international call minutes as well as transit minutes. For comparison purposes, figures from previous years will also be adjusted accordingly. This change has been applied retroactively from Jan 2001. Further, starting from Jan 2001, traffic from other service providers such as ISR operators has also been included. Since Jul 2004, IDA has also expanded on the reporting of international telephone services to include all Service-Based Operators (SBO), resulting in a marked increase in the minutes reported from Jun 2004. Part of the increase is also due to monthly traffic fluctuations.
This monthly telecommunications series records the total minutes of outgoing retail international telephone calls from July 2004 to May 2019. It provides a long-run measure of international voice-call usage in Singapore and can be used to examine seasonality, market trends and the shift in communication behaviour as internet-based services expanded. The dataset reports aggregate call minutes only and does not break usage down by destination, provider or customer type.
Info-communications Media Development Authority monthly CSV from 1999 through May 2019 on total outgoing retail international telephone call minutes from Singapore, including transit traffic. Telecom analysts study fixed-line international calling demand before newer IP-based services dominated retail voice.