Consumers are now one step closer to ubiquitous ultra-fast mobile surfing. The Government on Wednesday announced that more airwaves for fourth-generation (4G) services will be auctioned off in mid-2013 at the reserve price of $360 million.

A total of 27 blocks of airwaves will be up for sale with 15 of them being auctioned at a reserve price of $16 million each, and the rest at $10 million each. This works out to the $360 million reserve price for all the airwaves to be put under the hammer.

Mr Leong Keng Thai, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) deputy chief executive and director-general of telecoms and post, said the auction - Singapore's first for 4G services - "will pave the way for a nationwide deployment of 4G".

Consumers will also be able to enjoy higher speeds in accessing mobile services across Singapore, Mr Leong added. The islandwide rollout of 4G services is likely to be completed by June 2016.