|
Singapore has unveiled a 10-year Master Plan, titled Singapore Intelligent
Nation iN2015, which seeks to integrate all the modern and Next Generation
wireless and other infocomm technologies in every aspect of economy and social
systems to retain its global competitiveness.
The iN2015 Plan, unveiled by Singapore's minister for Information,
Communication and Arts, Dr Lee Boon Yong, during the launch of the annual imbX
2006 infocomm show is yet another manifestation of the government's efforts to
try and catch the next wave of innovation and application to maintain its status
as a global city.
The plan envisages intelligent use of infocomm technologies in every facet of
the lives of Singapore citizens and the economy. It will seek to double the
value added by the infocomm industry in the next 10 years to Sing$26 bn (US$14
bn), and ensure a three-fold increase in infocomm export revenues to Sing$60 bn
(US$42 bn). While government officials were cagy about the overall government
spending, they informed that the country would be spending over Sing$5 bn
(US$3.2 bn) over the next 10 years.
|
|
| The
iN2015 |
| The iN2015
Master Plan has been unveiled mainly to catch the attention of software
application developers in Indian and other regions. The Singapore
government hopes that software developers would be enthused by the huge
bandwidth that would be available in the country and would come up with
applications to make full use of the infrastructure in the coming years.
To complement the wired network for
broadband access, the Singapore government intends to work with the
private sector to install a pervasive and integrated, island-wide wireless
network to provide users with affordable and constant connectivity
anywhere, anytime and on any device.
Singapore also hopes the plan would
support the fast growing digital economy and lifestyle which demands high
bandwidth applications such as high definition IPTV, immersive video
conferencing, digital learning and telemedicine. Some 33 companies from
Singapore, India, US and Europe have submitted proposals to implement the
Master Plan to the IDA and the government agency would start giving out
the contracts by the end of 2006.
To put infocomm to more use, Singapore
has started two trials of HDTV (high definition TV), the first by any
South East Asian country. The trial includes 2,000 homes, which are
participating in the project. Singapore hopes to deploy HDTV in all homes
in the near future. |
“The outlook for the infocomm sector is bright with continued growth on the
back of rising demand by governments, businesses and consumers of infocomm
technologies, products and services,” said Dr Lee. “The corporate sector is
expected to tap infocomm in nearly every aspect of business activity.” He said
that innovation, integration and internationalization would be the basis of the
Plan. The capacity to innovate and create new business models, solutions and
services would enable Singapore to be more competitive in a global environment,
he added.
Giving details of the plan, Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority
(IDA) CEO, Chan Yeng Kit, said the plan will create an additional 80,000
infocomm jobs and ensure that over 90% of the homes in the country are covered
by high-speed broadband connections. Currently only 54% of the homes are covered
by broadband. Chan said the plan will entail a combined government and public
sector expenditure and the government would step in with appropriate investments
to supplement efforts by private companies in rolling out the plan.
Singapore's ambitious plan is to ensure that it does not lose its
competitiveness. IDA's assistant CEO, Khoong Hock Yun said several cities
across the world were already in advanced stages of implementing similar plans
to make their cities and economies fully intelligent, deploying the latest
infocomm technologies. One of the highlights of the plan is to use these
technologies fully in seven sectors, with education getting the most attention.
Essentially, the island nation will be covered with the Next Generation
National Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN), which will be an open-access carier-neutral
wired network with high-speed access speeds over 1 Gbps (giga bits per second).
IDA has already received proposals from nine companies and the implementation
will start from September 2006. There will also be a wireless broadband network
(WBN) covering every nook and corner of the country.
“Our plan is beyond just the infrastructure, which is just the necessity
but not a sufficient condition. The coordinated efforts involving various
government agencies is determined to overcome every challenge to ensure that the
plan is fully implemented,” Chan emphasized. The master plan was prepared over
the last 12 months with inputs from industry leaders and citizens.
Narayanan Suresh
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority hosted the author in Singapore Page(s) 1
| 
Print
Comment
Email
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Twitter
