Singtel merged consumer and enterprise arms into one AI-first Singapore telco (interview)
In a Straits Times interview, Singtel Singapore CEO Ng Tian Chong describes merging the consumer and enterprise arms and rebuilding an AI-first telco.
What was changed
In his first in-depth interview since taking the job, Singtel Singapore CEO Ng Tian Chong tells The Straits Times that he was hired in June 2023 to do one structural thing: merge the consumer and enterprise businesses, which each had their own CEO and separate teams, into 'one Singtel Singapore' and lead a transformation into an AI-first, digital-first telco. Singtel wanted a leader with no baggage to shake things up internally, after ARPU in the industry had been falling for five years.
He describes the changes: a flatter, less bureaucratic organisation tolerant of failure, backed by the Big Fearless Fund — an internal competition created in 2024 with a $1 million kitty that has drawn about 200 pitches from any of Singtel's 5,000 Singapore employees, with no consequence for ideas that get spiked. KPIs were rebuilt so business-unit leaders jointly own the falling-ARPU problem instead of optimising their own swim lanes.
One fund idea became Priority Plus, a consumer 5G plan launched in May 2025 from $55 a month that sells business-grade priority — four times faster surfing, unlimited local data, automated phishing and malware protection — islandwide, a concept borrowed from Singtel's enterprise offers. He was coy about returns, saying only that results are 'very positive'; almost all 5,000 employees have completed foundational AI training, and Singtel is training 3,000 AI practitioners and 300 AI specialists.
Why it worked
Price competition from Simba, Singapore's fourth telco, and dozens of MVNOs was structurally compressing ARPU, so the answer had to be premium new products rather than discounting.
Two separate consumer and enterprise teams duplicated leadership and slowed decisions; one combined unit could port enterprise-grade ideas like priority surfing to consumers.
A perfectionist, bureaucratic culture blocked innovation; the fund and no-blame spiking were designed to make failing fast acceptable.
AI was reshaping demand and telco operations alike, so mass internal training became part of the transformation itself.
What can be applied
When a price war compresses ARPU, restructure around one P&L: merge the silos, set company-wide KPIs so leaders co-own the problem, and fund internal ideas so frontline staff can ship the fix.
Aftermath
As of the February 2026 interview, Priority Plus has been live since May 2025 with returns Ng describes only as 'very positive', and more fund ideas are being turned into products he keeps confidential for competitive reasons. Singtel is training 3,000 AI practitioners and 300 specialists, using AI to optimise the network, automate troubleshooting, flag scam messages and counter cyberthreats, and betting on local data processing for banking and healthcare clients, while HR rethinks structures for teams that mix people and AI 'virtual employees'.