Following up on the announcement made by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, during his budget speech, that the government plans to enable mass market access to broadband speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) said on Wednesday that up to S$100 million would be made available to industry for this.
An IMDA spokesperson noted that this initiative is targeted at household users and not for business and corporate users.
Singapore’s fibre broadband network is already capable of speeds of up to 10 Gbps and the investment was intended to help service providers to upgrade last-mile equipment to enable mass market adoption.
Some broadband retailers currently offer 10 Gbps connectivity to households, but it is still a niche offering.
IMDA said it expects more than half a million households to sign up and benefit from higher speeds of up to 10Gbps by 2028.
Singapore’s fibre-optic-based National Broadband Network was rolled out in 2008 with a S$1 billion investment. Since then it has become the backbone of digital connectivity in Singapore with it ranked No. 1 in internet speeds in IMD’s Digital Competitive Rankings.
IMDA noted that more than 85 percent of households in Singapore have 1 Gbps and higher speed internet connectivity at price plans ranging from S$35 to S$55 per month.
Current 10 Gbps connections are priced between 30-40 percent higher and the new funding, IMDA hopes, will enable service providers to bring down the price to enable mass market adoption.
IMDA added that to avail themselves of the funding, broadband operators would have to apply for the grant and give details of how they intend to roll out the 10 Gbps networks.
The agency will also work with the industry to ensure that residential users would have access to the latest wi-fi 6E and wi-fi 7-enabled routers to avail of the 10 Gbps speeds on their devices in their home environment. The government has already allocated spectrum for these faster wi-fi standards
IMDA said digital technologies are developing rapidly, ranging from areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), immersive digital experiences, and autonomous devices.
The spokesperson said that a higher-capacity broadband network provides the foundation to enable these future innovations and opportunities.
“It is important for Singapore to invest ahead in foundational connectivity infrastructure, even as use cases continue to develop and evolve, to be future-ready. The upgraded NBN will form the backbone of future applications and innovation, at speeds up to 10 times faster than today,” she added.
The upgrade of the NBN will take place from mid-2024 to 2026. Together with the roll-out of 5G mobile services and faster wi-fi networks, the 10G NBN will provide more symmetric end-to-end 10 Gbps connectivity. This will support maintaining Singapore’s global competitiveness and unlocking further economic opportunities, the spokesperson added.
