Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act
(CHAPTER 323)

(Original Enactment: Act 12 of 1992)

REVISED EDITION 1993
(15th March 1993)
An Act to reconstitute the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore and to provide for the transfer of its property, rights and liabilities to successor companies, to make financial arrangements for those companies and to provide for the sale of their shares.
[1st April 1992]
PART I
PRELIMINARY
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act.
Interpretation
2.—(1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“Authority” means the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore established under the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore Act [Cap. 323, 1985 Ed] in force before 1st April 1992;
“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Authority and includes any temporary Chairman of the Authority;
“Chief Executive” means the Chief Executive of the Authority and includes any temporary Chief Executive of the Authority;
“code of practice” means a code of practice issued or approved under section 115A;
[Act 15/98]
“debenture” includes debenture stock;
“Deputy Chairman” means the Deputy Chairman of the Authority and includes any temporary Deputy Chairman of the Authority;
“designated postal property” has the meaning given by section 46(2);
“designated telecommunication property” has the meaning given by section 31(2);
“equipment” includes any appliance, apparatus or accessory used or intended to be used for telecommunication or postal purposes;
“excepted postal employees” has the meaning given by section 48(2);
“excepted telecommunication employees” has the meaning given by section 36(2);
“Hertzian or radio waves” means electro-magnetic waves of frequencies not exceeding 1,000 terahertz propagated in space without any artificial guide;
“installation or plant used for posts” includes all buildings, lands, structures, machinery, equipment, boxes and receptacles used or intended for use in connection with the transmission of postal articles by post;
“installation or plant used for telecommunications” includes all buildings, lands, structures, machinery, equipment, cables, poles and lines used or intended for use in connection with telecommunications;
“letter” includes any communication in the nature of current and personal correspondence;
“mail bag” means any bag, container, envelope or covering in which postal articles are conveyed;
“master”, in relation to a vessel or aircraft, means any person for the time being in charge or command of the vessel or aircraft but does not include a sea pilot;
“member” means a member of the Authority;
“message” means any sign, signal, writing, image, sound, intelligence or information of any nature transmitted by telecommunications;
“parcel” means a postal article which is posted at a post office in Singapore as a parcel in accordance with the provisions of this Act or is received at a post office in Singapore by parcel post;
“post” means any system for the collection, despatch, conveyance, handling and delivery of postal articles by or through a public postal licensee;
“post office” means any building, house, room, vehicle or place where postal articles are received, delivered, sorted, made up or despatched;
“postage” means the fee chargeable for the transmission by post of postal articles;
“postage stamp” means any label or stamp for denoting any postage or other sum payable in respect of a postal article, and includes any adhesive postage stamp or stamp printed, impressed or otherwise indicated on a postal article, whether the postage stamp is issued under this Act or by the government of any other country;
“postal article” means any article or thing transmissible by post but does not include such article or thing as the Authority may prescribe to be not transmissible by post;
“postal licensee” means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 42;
[Act 15/98]
“postal service” means any service by post;
“postal successor company” has the meaning given by section 46(1);
“postal undertaking” means all the lands, buildings and other property, movable or immovable, vested in the Authority immediately before 1st April 1992 for the postal purposes of the Authority and all assets, powers, rights, interests, privileges, debts, liabilities and obligations connected therewith;
[S 227/95]
“postcard” means a card recognised as a postcard in accordance with the terms of the Convention regulating the affairs of the Universal Postal Union;
“posting box” includes any pillar box and wall box and any other box or receptacle provided by or under the authority of a public postal licensee for the purpose of receiving postal articles for transmission by, or under the authority of, a public postal licensee;
“public postal licensee” means a person designated by the Authority under section 43;
“public postal licensee’s installation or plant” means any installation or plant used for posts belonging to or used by a public postal licensee;
“public telecommunication licensee” means a person designated by the Authority under section 27;
“public telecommunication licensee’s installation or plant” means any installation or plant used for telecommunications belonging to or used by a public telecommunication licensee;
“radio-communication” means any telecommunication by means of Hertzian or radio waves;
“radio-communication service” means any service for radio-communications;
“radio-communication system” means any system used or intended to be used for radio-communications;
“securities”, in relation to a company, includes shares, debentures, bonds and other securities of the company, whether or not constituting a charge on the assets of the company;
“shares” includes stock;
“street” includes any way, road, lane, path, passage or open space, whether a thoroughfare or not, over which the public have a right of way and also the roadway and footway over any public bridge and includes any road, footway or passage, used or intended to be used as a means of access to two or more holdings, whether the public has a right of way thereover or not;
“subsidiary” has the same meaning as in the Companies Act [Cap. 50];
“telecommunication licensee” means a person to whom a licence has been granted under section 26;
[Act 15/98]
“telecommunication line” means a wire or cable used for telecommunications with any casing, coating, tube or pipe enclosing the same and any appliance and apparatus connected therewith for the purpose of fixing or insulating the same;
“telecommunication service” means any service for telecommunications;
“telecommunication successor company” has the meaning given by section 31(1);
“telecommunication system” means any system used or intended to be used for telecommunications;
“telecommunication system licensee” means a person licensed under section 26 to operate a telecommunication system;
[Act 15/98]
“telecommunication undertaking” means all the lands, buildings and other property, movable or immovable, vested in the Authority immediately before 1st April 1992 for the telecommunication purposes of the Authority and all assets, powers, rights, interests, privileges, debts, liabilities and obligations connected therewith;
“telecommunications” means a transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, radio, optical or other electro-magnet systems whether or not such signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence have been subjected to rearrangement, computation or other processes by any means in the course of their transmission, emission or reception;
“vessel” includes any ship, boat, air-cushioned vehicle or floating rig or platform used in any form of operations at sea or any other description of vessel.
(2)  For the purposes of this Act —
(a)the delivery of a postal article by depositing it —
(i)into the letter box of the addressee or by leaving it at the house or office of the addressee, or with the addressee or with his employee or agent or other person authorised to receive it and, where the addressee is a guest or is resident at a hotel, hostel or lodging of a similar nature, by leaving it with the proprietor or manager thereof or with his agent shall be a delivery to the addressee; and
(ii)into any posting box or by handing it over to an employee or agent of a public postal licensee authorised to receive it shall be a delivery to the licensee;
(b)a postal article shall be in the course of transmission by post from the time of it being delivered to a public postal licensee to the time of it being delivered to the addressee, or it being returned to the sender or otherwise disposed of under this Act; and
(c)a company shall be regarded as wholly owned by the Government at any time when all the issued shares in the company are held by or on behalf of the Government.