Singapore outlines gigabit broadband plans

Singapore aims to triple its technology exports and create 80,000 jobs with new initiatives including a nationwide wired and wireless network offering speeds up to 1Gbps.

The targets in the nine-year 'iN2015' plan were announced by Dr Lee Boon Yang, the country's minister for information, communications and the arts, in a speech this morning. 

The government describes the scheme as a "masterplan to foster innovation, integration and internationalisation in Singapore's infocomm sector".

"We aim to double the value-add of the infocomm industry to S$26bn [$16.35bn] and generate a three-fold increase in our infocomm export revenue to S$60bn [US$37.7bn]," said Dr Lee.

"We aim to create 80,000 additional infocomm and infocomm-related jobs. We target for 90 per cent of homes using broadband access as well as 100 per cent computer ownership for all homes with school-going children by 2015."

The infrastructure for the plan, Singapore's next-generation fibre optic-based national broadband network, is expected to be completed by 2012.

The network will form part of a new communications infrastructure that will offer wired bandwidth from 100Mbps to more than 1Gbps throughout Singapore. The island will also be blanketed with a low-cost wireless network.

"We will offer broadband connectivity anywhere, anytime and on any device," said Dr Lee.

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