CELLPHONE operators may have signed up their one-millionth 3G subscriber here in February, but many of these customers are not using their newfangled devices for anything other than making calls and sending SMS messages.
Launched here two years ago, 3G services promised a new era of mobile communication, complete with video calls, mobile TV and Internet on the go.
SingTel, StarHub and MobileOne (M1) have since signed up 1.01 million 3G customers, according to the latest figures from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) released on Wednesday.
That means one in five of Singapore's 4.7 million cellphone subscriptions is now on a 3G service. But many of the users do not use their advanced devices for much more than making calls and sending SMS messages.
The 3G networks, in short, are hugely under-utilised.
So far, that represents a poor return for the three cellphone operators here, which splashed out $300 million to license the airwaves with the authorities and another $600 million or so to install 3G networks.
Part of the reason seems to be that customers are not actually choosing 3G. Experts say 80 per cent of phones sold now are 3G models and buyers are automatically signed up to 3G plans, whether they want them or not.
Mr Bryan Wang, director of Asia-Pacific research at analyst firm In-Stat, estimates that subscribers here clock up less than 10 per cent of their monthly bills on data services that utilise 3G.
He said: 'Operators here are still trying to sell cheaper phones each weekend, instead of bringing content like Korean dramas to the mobile.'
One enduring problem comes from the massive hype and subsequent fallout that has stuck with the technology.
Even with attractive pricing - a video call costs the same as a voice call - many people have stayed away from using 3G services.
M1 chief executive officer Neil Montefiore told The Straits Times: 'The most disappointing were video calls and video downloads... They just have not taken off in a great way.'
Still, he is optimistic that with Internet giants like Yahoo, Google and YouTube starting to offer search and other online services on phones, the situation could turn around.
M1 has already upgraded its 3G network to support newer 3.5G services, which offer downloads at least nine times faster than 3G.
Rivals SingTel and StarHub plan to roll out 3.5G services this year as well.
The operators hope a new generation of subscribers, who are more used to watching videos on a small screen, will take to 3G more readily than older users.
Even in cellphone-mad Japan, the masses picked up 3G services only several years after they were launched.
Today in Japan, 67 million 3G subscribers - 70 per cent of subscribers - use their gizmos to download music, send e-mail and even pay for noodles at convenience stores.
Businessman Ng Thye Peng, 33, an early 3G adopter here who makes video calls to his children, said many people are simply not used to what 3G offers.
'Some people feel that a video call makes them lose their privacy and others say the screen is too small to surf the Net on,' he noted.
