SINGAPORE - All 123 McDonald's restaurants across Singapore will be equipped with Singtel's WiFi connections, allowing customers on the telco's Combo 4G plans to surf at a total of 600 hotspots islandwide by the first half of next year.

The telco's Wi-Fi network complements its 4G network by boosting capacity in crowded, congestion-prone locations allowing more people to be connected to the Internet without surfing slowdowns.

Wi-Fi access at SingTel-operated hot spots - a free service - also helps prevent its mobile subscribers from busting their mobile data caps.

After November this year, its free Wi-Fi service will be limited to 2GB. It current operates about 500 hotspots in shopping malls and train stations.

The first McDonald's outlets to be equipped with Singtel Wi-Fi includes those at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Serangoon's Nex shopping mall and Causeway Point.

Separately, Singtel will also launch Singapore's first tri-band 4G network, providing better coverage in hard-to-reach places such as underground tunnels. It will be delivering 4G services using lower radio frequencies - in the 900MHz range - in addition to the higher frequencies in the 1,800MHz and 2,600MHz bands that it now uses for 4G.

The telco is working with Samsung to launch the first tri-band 4G handset here in the coming months, Singtel said in a statement on Tuesday.