Singapore outlines gigabit broadband plans

Singapore's new comms infrastructure will offer wired bandwidth from 100Mbps to more than 1Gbps

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.