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Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), the incumbent telcommunication operator, is currently 52% government-owned.

The Copyright Act recognises the fair dealing of copyright material for research and study, for purpose of criticism or review, for purpose of reporting current events in relation to works and other subject-matters.

Under Section 55 of the Patent Act, there is a compulsory licensing system related to competition policy. It stipulates that any “interested person may apply to the court for the grant of a licence under a patent on the ground that the grant of the licence is necessary to remedy an anti‐competitive practice.”

Certain US companies report to remain concerned about the lack of transparency in some aspects of Singapore's telecommunications regulatory and rule-making process. In particular, there is no obligation to make information publicly available concerning a company's request for:
- a stay of decision or the filing of an appeal,
- public comments about such requests, or
- publishing a detailed explanation concerning final decisions made by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) or the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI).

In 2013, the Media Development Authority of Singapore issued guidelines providing that all online news websites that provide regular reports on Singapore and have significant reach should acquire an individual license.

Additionally, any news website that covers an average of at least one article per week on Singaporean news and current affairs over a period of two months and reaches at least 50,000 unique Internet Protocol addresses in Singapore over the same two month period requires a special license.

The licensed sites must also put up a performance bond of SGD $50,000 (USD 42,000), similar to that required for niche TV broadcasters. The new license requires holders to take down content that breaches certain standards within 24 hours of being notified by the Singaporean government.

Low thresholds for merger and acquisitions in the telecommunication sector are in place in Singapore. According to section 10 of the Telecommunications Competition Code and pursuant to section 32 of the Telecommunications Act, acquisitions higher than 12% of a controller of a designated telecommunications licensee must seek prior approval from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA). Likewise, in the case of acquisitions higher than 30% of the total voting shares or voting power which results in a 30% or higher controlling stake of the designated telecommunication licensee, prior approval of the IDA is required.

The company secretary must be residing in Singapore.

Companies incorporated in Singapore must have at least one director who is ordinarily resident in Singapore. Foreign companies seeking a listing on the Singapore Exchange Limited must have at least two directors resident in Singapore.

Although Singapore is a signatory to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), its coverage schedules do not include "telecommunications related services" (CPC 754) and do not fully cover "computer related services (CPC 84) and "telecommunications services" (CPC 752), which are important service sectors for digital trade.

From 2020, the Singaporean goods and services tax (GST) will apply to digital services such as streaming services and mobile apps. The GST will be imposed on business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumers (B2C) imported services, but will not affect e-commerce on physical goods below USD 400. Payments for cloud services, which Singapore’s tax authorities have confirmed constitute service payments, are also liable for withholding taxes.

According to the Philippine's de minimis rule goods with a value of up to 10000 PHP / 192 USD / 132 are exempted from taxes and duties collected by customs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission restricts only to Philippine nationals the commercial operation of an online platform to market or sell third party products and services.

Self-certification is not allowed for telecommunications, wireless and radio equipment. Certification of some equipment types requires testing at the incumbent telecom carrier laboratories, while for other categories approval is based on review of foreign standard test reports. The Philippines' National Telecommunication Commission also issues certification of telecom equipment to be connected to public network services.

Audio and video products such as TVs and LCD panels marketed in the Philippines are required to be certified according to the relevant Philippine PNS safety standard (which is equivalent to the international IEC 60065:2007). There are two options:
- a voluntary license to use the Philippine Standard PS-mark on manufactured products as granted by the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS); or
- use of stickers with the mandatory Import Commodity Clearance (ICC)-mark on imported products.
It is required to test the product within the Philippines and also to apply via a local representative. For the PS-mark, periodical factory audits are also needed.

Reports of corruption and irregularities in customs processing persist, including undue and costly delays (e.g. irregularities in the valuation process, 100% inspection and testing of some products and customs officials seeking the payment of unrecorded facilitation fees).