Service providers to offer next gen broadband network services soon

By Dominique Loh | Posted: 14 August 2010 1733 hrs


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Fibre-optic network




SINGAPORE : If you're an Internet power user, you don't have to wait much longer to surf on Singapore's next generation nationwide broadband network.

One retail service provider said it is ready to sell its services to homes and offices by September 1.

"Imagine the possibilities, you can now download a full motion picture in minutes, rather in hours, so I am really optimistic," said Philip Chua, Regional Manager, Southeast Asia, Akamai Technologies.

"I think the people who will be interested are those who do gaming a lot, as an example," said David Storrie, CEO of Nucleus Connect.

About 64 per cent of Singapore homes will be fibre-optic ready by the end of the year.

By 2012, all Singapore homes and offices will be connected to Singapore's ultra high-speed broadband network.

Companies like SuperInternet aren’t wasting time and is gearing up to roll out interactive services by October.

It sees the next generation nationwide broadband as a critical business opportunity.

Other players like StarHub will likely be concentrating on enterprise solutions.

But the cost for consumers to sign on to the ultra high-speed broadband is one big factor.

"I think you will see cost coming down over time. Obviously it will be a competitive market, I don't want to announce what our prices will be yet," said Neil Montefiore, StarHub's CEO.

"The NGN (next generation networking) is about saying to the customer - what you're doing for $10 a month, I can do for $11 but giving you a $20 value," said Benjamin Tan, MD of SuperInternet.

Storrie said: "I think initially there will be some scepticism. The take-up rate I think will be slow to begin with, but I think once people get confidence in the performance of the network, it will start to pick up and be quite strong.

"If the premium is reasonable, then we can reasonably expect a steady and constant migration from today's technology to a fibre-based technology," said Foong King Yew, research director of Telecommunication at Gartner Research.

It's hard to imagine for now, but some are already saying, even with this newer bigger fibre-optic pipe, in time, it too will be filled up to capacity. - CNA /ls