SINGTEL will pull the plug on the country's last free dial-up Internet service in April next year.

The decision follows a similar move by rival StarHub, which discontinued its free connection in June this year.

Both telcos cited declining demand and commercial pressures.

'Clearly, more people are replacing dial-up with faster broadband access,' said Mr Chia Boon Chong, a SingTel spokesman.

Early this month, SingTel started sending letters to customers telling them the service, called mysingtel, will be cut off on April 1.

About 7,000 mysingtel customers will be affected.

SingTel recommended users switch to broadband plans, which start from $20.33 a month. SingNet also offers dial-up plans from $10.17 a month.

One mysingtel user, Mr Leonard Oh, is unhappy he has to pay for something that has been free for so long.

'Why are they charging for dial-up access?' asked the 35-year-old assistant project manager at ST Aviation Services.

He uses the Internet at home only once or twice during weekends to check his e-mail and for casual Web surfing.

As of September this year, SingTel had 46,000 paid dial-up subscribers, a 30 per cent drop from a year ago. Its broadband users have increased by 16 per cent, to 455,000, in the same period.

StarHub was the first to introduce free dial-up services in December 1999. Its goal was to encourage Internet use, which has risen steadily over the years.

SingTel launched its mysingtel plan in 2000.