The race for Singapore's ultra-fast broadband network got fully under way yesterday, when the Government announced its much-awaited tenders to build the new cyber highway.
In a strong showing of its commitment to develop the infrastructure, it said it was prepared to spend up to $750 million, a hefty chunk of the estimated $1 billion to $2 billion needed to build the Next-Generation National Broadband Network (NBN).
Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yang, said the Government was stepping in because telecom networks were expensive.
Its funding role will also keep the market competitive and avert the 'natural monopolies' that now limit new entrants to the market.
When the all-new network starts rolling out in 2010, homes, offices and schools can hook up to the Internet at speeds at least 10 times faster than now.
By 2015, almost all these places will have been hooked up.
At such blazing speeds, movies can be downloaded in mere minutes, not hours. Other expanded usage: virtual learning, online trading, and telemedicine. A user may even be able to consult his doctor from home.
Plans for the new network were unveiled almost two years ago by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Since then, 12 consortia of local and foreign firms have qualified to bid to build the project.
They now have three months to submit their bids. The winning bidder -- the network company -- will be known by the third quarter of next year.
After this, a second tender will be awarded in 2009 to a separate company -- the operating company -- to run the equipment on the network.
This 'separation' is to prevent any one telecom operator from dominating the market. The network company will own the basic infrastructure.
The operating company, on the other hand, has to lease out bandwidth to other telcos -- including newcomers or smaller firms -- at an open price.
Experts believe these three tiers may help break the duopoly of SingTel and StarHub, which together own most of the telecom cables here and have been dominating the market.
This 'open access' model is not new. In Amsterdam, for example, the city council owns part of the broadband infrastructure, which is resold by service providers to consumers.
Although the Singapore Government will not own the network here, it hopes to encourage new entrants to package their broadband services, for example, with TV programmes, thus giving consumers more choice.
The race has already started, at least for the local players. SingTel, StarHub and MobileOne yesterday said they expected to send in bids for the new network.
Mr Foong King Yew, research director of analyst firm Gartner, said the new network may yet boost more competition here, by lowering the barriers to newcomers to offer new services.
But he added a note of caution: 'At the end of the day, how many people will actually come in to set up shop? We are still a small market.'
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Alfred Siew
Quelle/Source: Asia Pacific Media Network, 12.12.2007
