SINGAPORE: All wired up and nowhere to go. 2/8/00
<<The authorities also hope liberalising the telecommunications market in April, two years earlier than planned, will bring in from abroad more enticing offerings for broad-band users, such as internet telephony.>>
The aggressively modern island state of Singapore is well known for having a high-speed broad-band internet network hardly anybody uses, reports Sheila McNulty
Singapore has spent S$340m (œ123m) over the past few years wiring every home, school and office to a super high-speed internet service. Yet, in spite of impressive statistics showing six out of every 10 homes in Singapore have personal computers and one in two has access to the internet, only 14 per cent of internet users have bothered to connect to the world's first nationwide broad-band network.
Singaporeans cite the high cost compared with normal modem dial-up, that few applications require such advanced hardware and that they are not sufficiently enticed by those that do. Some even worry that connecting to the network will give the authorities even more access to their personal lives.
The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the force behind Singapore's effort, managed to exceed its target of 100,000 broad-band users by the end of last year, with 107,000, but admits it will be several more years before it can claim even 20 per cent of internet users.
Patrick Yau, technology analyst at ABN-Amro Asia Securities, says it is clear wiring the nation with broad-band has not been commercially successful: "Singapore is well known for having a network hardly anybody uses." But he admits the authorities were more interested in laying the foundation for a future that will be on the internet than turning a profit.
The IDA is undaunted by the slow conversion rate. "When we first talked about doing this two to three years ago, there weren't a lot of templates to follow," says Daneel Pang, IDA acting deputy director of technology exploitation.
Singapore forged ahead of the world and wired the island with Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ASDL) technology only now finding its way into developed countries such as the US. "It's going to be a solid investment," Mr Pang says, but admits it may take a few more years to yield dividends.
Arecent survey showed 87 per cent of households mainly use their computers for e-mail. They certainly do not need to pay the relatively high price of S$45 for 13 hours a month of internet access at least 100 times faster than the regular, dial-up modem service, particularly now that the latter is being offered free by Singapore's highly competitive narrow-band providers.
"The narrow-band meets most of the needs of the consumers at large in Singapore," says Jason Tan, a director with Singapore Telecommunications' multimedia group. As the island-state's main internet provider, it has 250,000 narrow-band subscribers compared with 20,000 broad-band subscribers. "Broad-band is not yet a necessity," he says.
The authorities created an interactive web-site of on-demand movies, government services and shopping they hoped would attract Singaporeans to broad-band, but Mr Pang admits it needs to be more enticing.
And Singaporeans do not need to go online to cut through government bureaucracy or shop. The island state is just 647.5 sq km, so nothing is too far away. On-site government bureaucracy is minimal and shopping is the main leisure activity for the vast majority of Singaporeans. "I can still sense the apprehensiveness . . . as Asians are weaned from a diet of window shopping," says Bernard Yang, chief operating officer of Nanyang Optical, which sells glasses online.
So even many businesses are not investing in broad-band. Close to 80 per cent of businesses surveyed by the IDA access the internet through a dial-up modem. Those with corporate websites mainly used them to provide product information and customer service support, with only 5 per cent engaged in e-commerce transactions. The few that actually do sell online are serving such a small market that many have not invested in accepting credit cards, much less sophisticated broad-band technology.
"In time, we believe we should be using broad-band," says Adrian Lee of his FRESHdirect online fruit stall. He just has to wait a bit longer to download orders, which are not so numerous yet as to be a burden. "E-commerce can be successful in the future, but this is actually a transition period," Mr Lee says.
Singaporeans also need time to trust again after SingNet, an online provider of Singapore Telecommunications which is 80 per cent government owned, remotely scanned 200,000 subscribers' computers in May without informing them. IDA responded to the public outcry by drawing up guidelines for providers, stressing that computer scanning without permission is wrong.
The recent introduction of a second broad-band service through the cable TV network should lead to a cut in prices. The authorities also hope liberalising the telecommunications market in April, two years earlier than planned, will bring in from abroad more enticing offerings for broad-band users, such as internet telephony.
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