Singapore To Fund Up To $100 Million To Boost Fibre Network to 10Gbps
By: Asia Business Outlook Team | Wednesday, 21 February 2024
The nationwide broadband network will go through a redesign of up to S$100 million (US$74.3 million), with the greater part 1,000,000 families expected to join and profit from higher paces of up to 10 gigabits each second (Gbps) by 2028, said the Infocomm Media Advancement Authority (IMDA).
The investment comes nearly two decades after the first nationwide broadband network investments, with the upgrading to occur from mid-2024 to 2026. Higher bandwidth services are expected to be available from as early as next year, as per CNA.
The public authority's arrangements to catalyze interests in this space were reported by Representative Top state leader Lawrence Wong in his Spending plan 2024 discourse. The redesign plans to empower mass market admittance to rates of up to 10Gbps in the last part of this long period, said Mr Wong, who is additionally Money Clergyman. The speed would be multiple times quicker than what most homes have today. The cross country broadband network at present runs in all homes, with more than 85% on something like 1Gbps administrations.
"This also ensures that our connectivity infrastructure will be able to support technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and immersive media as they become more pervasive in the future," Mr Wong said.
Speaking to the sources on Wednesday, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo said the investments were about "future proofing" the country as enhancing digital infrastructure does not "happen overnight". "I think a big part of it is ensuring that in the digital age, we are properly resourced, properly equipped," said Mrs Teo.
"Because many of the ways in which digital developments will change our ways of working, ways of living, they're not entirely known in advance. We just have to try and make a best effort as far as understanding what the trends are going to be and then making sure that our digital infrastructure is future-proofed."