MyRepublic

2011-2015

MyRepublic was founded by former vice president of StarHub International and Wholesale, Malcolm Rodrigues, former senior vice president of StarHub Consumer Sales, KC Lai, and former lead of Alcatel-Lucent's National Broadband Network Team, Greg Mittman.^[4][5] The company was established on 25 July 2011; became a licensed telecommunications carrier in Singapore in October 2011; signed the interconnection agreement with the National Broadband Company in Singapore shortly after^[when?]; held a soft launch in mid-December 2011; and officially launched its operations in Singapore on 16 February 2012.^[6] Unburdened by costly legacy and with what Rodrigues calls a "thin operator model", by the end of 2012 MyRepublic had 450 resellers, 10,000 subscribers, and had earned more than S$5 million in revenue.

In January 2014 MyRepublic expanded into New Zealand^[7] and also launched its 1 Gbit/s service in Singapore.^[8] In May 2014 the company received an investment of S$4.4 million from Indonesian energy company Dian Swastatika Sentosa, part of the Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas,^[9] and in July of that year it received a further S$20 million investment from Sunshine Network, a telecommunications arm of Sinar Mas, as well as a S$10 million investment from Xavier Niel, founder of French telecommunications company Free.^[10][11] That same year MyRepublic announced its interest in being Singapore's 4th telco^[12] after Singtel, StarHub, and M1, promising to introduce unlimited mobile data plans.

In April 2015 MyRepublic announced plans to participate in a mobility trial in Jurong Lake District, Singapore^[13] as part of the Government's trial of HetNet ("heterogeneous network").^[14] HetNet was a new wireless system that leveraged NBN as part of a mobile network, allowing mobile phone users to hop across networks to minimise surfing slowdowns or disruptions automatically. As part of the trial, MyRepublic gave out 1,000 free SIM cards with unlimited 4G data to trial participants in the coverage area of malls, public housing blocks, bus interchanges, and MRT train stations.^[15]

In September 2015 the company submitted its bid for the New Entrant Spectrum Auction (NESA), along with Australian telco TPG Telecom and Singapore start-up airYotta. Of the three, only MyRepublic and TPG were pre-qualified to participate in the NESA. MyRepublic ultimately exited the auction at S$102.5 million, ceding the license to TPG and citing concerns that bidding higher would not make sense for its business case.

In July 2015 MyRepublic expanded its operations to an initial nine locations in Indonesia,^[16] and in August announced plans to expand and launch its services in Australia.^[17] In September 2015 the company raised S$23 million in new capital, including a major investment from Brunei telecommunications provider DST.^[18]

2016-17

In March 2016 MyRepublic launched a self-service plug-and-play wide-area-network (WAN) service for businesses,^[19] and in November officially launched its operations in Australia.^[20] In July 2017 it officially connected Wollongong, New South Wales to consumer-grade NBN 1 Gbit/s connections, the first town in Australia to have this service.^[21]

In May 2017 reports emerged that MyRepublic was looking for private equity backing to bid for Singaporean telecommunications company M1. This would allow the company to get back into the Singapore telco market despite not winning the fourth telco license. In a press conference later that year MyRepublic confirmed the report but added that it was no longer interested in buying M1 and would seek to offer mobile services as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) instead.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2017 MyRepublic was named one of the 2017 winners of the Red Hat Innovation Awards APAC for Singapore, for its outstanding and innovative use of Red Hat solutions.^[22]

2018-2019

In February 2018 MyRepublic was ranked #64 on the Financial Times' inaugural List of the Top 1000 fastest-growing companies in the Asia-Pacific,^[23] and in May the company launched MyRepublic Connected Business, a streamlined networking solution in partnership with Cisco Meraki.^[24][25] It also announced its MVNO partnership with StarHub that month, enabling it to offer services using StarHub's mobile infrastructure.^[26] In June 2018 MyRepublic announced a new investment of US$60m from CLSA Capital Partners, the asset management business of CLSA capital markets and investment group and Kamet Capital Partners, a Singapore family office.^[27][28]

In September 2019 Brunei's largest mobile operator, DST, selected MyRepublic as its partner to manage Brunei's telecom infrastructure carveout and DST's transformation to a quad-play thin operator.^[29]

2020-2023

In February 2020 MyRepublic Singapore commissioned its first Wi-Fi 6 (AX) managed Wi-Fi network for its enterprise customers, later installing and commissioning a managed Wi-Fi network serving thousands of users in less than 14 days during the COVID-19 Circuit Breaker period of April 2020.^[30][31] In October of that year MyRepublic and M1 Limited (M1) signed an agreement for MyRepublic to deliver an enhanced suite of mobile services as an MVNO using M1's mobile network infrastructure.^[32]

In March 2021 MyRepublic launched a rebranding campaign that appeared across MRT stations and digital channels,^[33]and in May it launched a self-serve SIM card activation service for new mobile customers.^[34][35] At the same time MyRepublic refreshed its SMB (small and medium business) and enterprise service offerings, including Microsoft 365, Teams, and a cybersecurity suite designed in partnership with IT solutions provider Inspira Enterprise.^[36] In September 2021 StarHub acquired the majority interest in MyRepublic's broadband business, bringing its total investment to S$162.8 million, with MyRepublic's other business units remaining fully owned by MyRepublic Group.

In September 2022 MyRepublic Group launched MyRepublic Digital, a platform-as-a-service spin-off company with its flagship product Encore, a cloud-native digital platform.^[37][38] In December 2022 it sold its customer contracts in Australia to Superloop, thereby ceasing to operate in Australia.^[39] In July 2023 MyRepublic also exited the New Zealand broadband market, selling its customer contracts to 2degrees.^[40] In November 2023 MyRepublic New Zealand rebranded as an MVNO – Rocket Mobile – and started offering mobile plans in New Zealand.^[41]

In January 2023 MyRepublic introduced its 5G plan offerings using StarHub's 5G Standalone/4G/3G infrastructure. MyRepublic's 4G plan offerings continued, using M1's 4G/3G infrastructure.^[42]