THE DOT CITY: SINGAPORE INTERNET CASE STUDY

Draft 01.03.2001

February 2001 Michael Minges, Magda Ismail and Larry Press wrote this report. Vanessa Gray provided editorial comments and Nathalie Delmas handled formatting and production. Vincent Tan Fu Ming of Radin Mas Primary School in Singapore drew the picture on the cover. The authors are indebted to the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore for its support and particularly Meng Chung Lee who graciously dealt with the logistics. The report is based on field research undertaken 24-28 July 2000 as well as reports and articles identified in the bibliography or as footnotes. We would like to thank Jenny Yeo (Radin Mas Primary School), Alvin Kuek (AsiaStockWatch.com), Tan Yap Kwang (CHECK BUSINESS CARD IF NAME IS CORRECT) (Ministry of Educa- tion), Colin Quek (National Healthcare Group), Yap Siew Luan (AsiaOne), Lum Yoke Wah (Ministry of Health), Cecilia Yip (Singapore Broadcasting Au- thority), as well as the Info-communications Development Authority (IDA) for their valuable comments on the draft version of this report.

The views expressed are those of the authors and may not necessarily re- flect the opinions of the International Telecommunication Union, its mem- bers or the Government of the Republic of Singapore. This report is one of a series of Internet Case Studies. Additional information is available on the Internet Case Studies web site at www.itu.int/ti/casestudies.

© ITU 2001

ii Contents

1. Country background ...... 1 1.1 Overview...... 1 1.2 Demography ...... 1 1.3 Economy ...... 1 1.4 Human development ...... 2 1.5 Political ...... 2

2. Information and Communication Technology markets...... 4 2.1 Telecommunication Sector ...... 4 2.2 Information Technology Sector ...... 11 2.3 Mass media ...... 13

3. Internet policy ...... 18 3.1 Role of incumbent telecom operator ...... 18 3.2 Pricing ...... 18 3.3 Regulatory issues ...... 20 3.4 Universal access ...... 23

4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation .... 28 4.1 Government ...... 28 4.2 Health ...... 31 4.3 Education ...... 33 4.4 Electronic commerce ...... 39

5. Summary & recommendations ...... 44 5.1 State of the Internet in Singapore ...... 44 5.2 Recommendations ...... 46

Annex 1: List of meetings ...... 49 Annex 2: Acronyms and abbreviations ...... 50 Annex 3: Useful links ...... 51 Annex 4: Framework dimensions ...... 52 Annex 5: Bibliography ...... 54

iii

1. Country background

1. Country background

1.1 Overview 1.3 Economy

The Republic of Singapore, with an area With a small domestic market, few of only 660 square kilometres, is located natural resources, and a strategic lo- in Southeast Asia at the southern tip of cation, Singapore has a long history the Malaysian peninsula. It is comprised as a trading nation. It leads the South of a main island and several islets. Sin- East Asia region in imports and ex- gapore’s northern neighbour is Malay- ports per capita. Singapore has a serv- sia, linked by a bridge crossing across ice-oriented economy and its GDP per the Johore Strait. On the south, is Indone- Figure 1.1: Map of Singapore sia. Singapore’s stra- tegic location at the crossing of many trade routes has contributed strongly to its history and economic devel- opment. The island is relatively flat, with a tropical temperature due to its proximity to the equator and abun- dant rainfall from its sea exposure. Less than two per cent of the land is used for agriculture. The rest is evenly divided be- tween developed and undeveloped areas. The name of the coun- try is derived from a Sanskrit word SingaPura (Lion City).

1.2 Demography

In June 2000 the Source: The World Factbook 1999. population of Singa- pore was four million, of which 3.0 million citizens.1 The capita of US$ 24’210 ranks eighth in population is predominantly Chinese the world. The strength of the (77 per cent) but there is widespread economy is shown by its ability to con- emphasis in government and the cul- tinue growing (albeit slowly) during ture for equal treatment of the Malay the Asian economic downturn of 1997- (14 per cent) and Indian (8 per cent) 98 (Figure 1.2). While these facts re- ethnic groups. Chinese, Malay, Tamil flect a healthy, robust economy, they and English are all official languages, do not reveal the active planning role with English being the predominant of the government, which, in combi- language in business and government nation with an atypical Civil Service dealings. Some 20 other languages policy, has had a profound effect on are also used on the island.2 Singapore.

1 Singapore Case Study

Figure 1.2: Weathering the storm

Singapore distribution of GDP, 1999 and GDP change over previous year

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È È È Manufacturing 26% È Services 66% Construction 8%

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Source: Singapore Department of Statistics.

1.4Human development 1.5 Political

While Singapore enjoys the eighth Singapore’s recent history dates back highest GDP per capita in the world, it to 1819 when Stamford Raffles estab- ranks only 24th on the United Nations lished a British trading post on the is- Development Programme’s Human land. Singapore became a Crown Colony Development Index (HDI). The HDI is in 1867, a situation that lasted until a function of wealth, health, and edu- 1959 with an interruption during the cation, and, while Singapore ranks Japanese occupation between 1942 and high on GDP per capita and life ex- 1945. There was a strong independence pectancy, it is pulled down by a rela- movement, and elections were held for tively poor performance in education. self-government in 1959. The People’s The mean years of schooling is Action Party (PAP) won the election and 8.1 years and the literacy rate 94 per- Lee Kuan Yew became the first Prime cent, both relatively low for such an Minister of the State of Singapore. Lee affluent nation.3 Table 1.2 compares pressed for a union with Malaya and Singapore’s HDI to other Association when Malaysia was formed in 1963, it of South East Nations (ASEAN) as well included Singapore. Singapore withdrew as several developed economies in the in 1965 and became an independent Asia-Pacific region. Singapore is the republic. The PAP has ruled continuously highest-ranking ASEAN nation in hu- since 1965 and Goh Chok Tong became man development, and ranks second the country’s second Prime Minister in in Asia after Japan. 1990.

2 1. Country background

Table 1.1: Human Development Indicators

Singapore compared to selected Asia-Pacific economies, 1998

Combined Life Adult school gross GDP per expectancy literacy rate enrolment capita HDI at birth (years) (%) ratio (%) (PPP US$) Rank Economy 1998 1998 1998 1998

4 Australia 78.3 99.0 114 22'452 9 Japan 80.0 99.0 85 23'257 20 New Zealand 77.1 99.0 96 17'288 24 Singapore 77.3 91.8 73 24'210 26 Hongkong SAR 78.6 92.9 64 20'763 31 Korea (Rep.) 72.6 97.5 90 13'478 61 Malaysia 72.2 86.4 65 8'137

Source: United Nations Development Programme.

1 Singapore Department of Statistics. “Singapore Census of Population 2000 – A Quick Count.” Press Release 17. 31 August 2000. 2 http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Sing.html. 3 Literacy data reported by Statistics Singapore differs from that reported by the UNDP even though the year and concept used by both appear to be the same.

3 Singapore Case Study

2. Information and Communication Technology markets

2.1 Telecommunication Sector Operators (FBO) in the country. Due to the small market and technical and Singapore has one of the most ad- financial constraints, it is unlikely that vanced telecommunication networks in the number of FBOs will grow signifi- the world with very high levels of ac- cantly. The country’s FBOs include: cess. This has been possible due to the small size of the country—essentially a · Singapore Telecom (SingTel) large city—as well as rising levels of in- is the nation’s come and government commitment to incumbent operator. As in many telecommunication excellence. The tel- countries, SingTel enjoyed a mo- ecommunication market has been char- nopoly until recently. However, acterized by progressive liberalization unlike many countries, the level from a state-owned monopoly provider of infrastructure development and to full competition. quality of service was high with SingTel striving to measure up to 2.1.1 Regulation and policy- international best practice. SingTel making was partially privatized in 1993 Government ministries are responsible and is a major international inves- for overall policy with subsidiary statu- tor in its own right with over tory boards providing technical support US$ 2.5 billion invested in and day-to-day regulation. The Minis- 19 countries. Singapore Post, the try of Communications and Information country’s postal service, is a sub- Technology (MCIT) is responsible for sidiary of SingTel. At end overall transportation, postal services March 2000 SingTel’s domestic and Information and Communications network included 1.9 million fixed Technology (ICT) policy. The Info-com- line subscribers and 1.1 million munications Development Authority mobile cellular subscribers. (IDA) is the statutory board responsi- ble for regulating and promoting postal · Mobile One (M1) was formed in August late 1999 from the merger of the Tel- 1994 to bid for Singapore’s sec- ecommunication Authority of Singapore ond mobile cellular license. It was (TAS) and the National Computer Board awarded mobile cellular and ra- (NCB). dio paging licenses in May 1995. Both services were launched on The Ministry of Information and The 1 April 1997 when SingTel’s mo- Arts (MITA) was created in 1990. It is nopoly in these areas expired. M1 the public relations arm of the gov- started with a GSM-900 system ernment. It also oversees the regula- and introduced a CDMA network tion and promotion of the broadcast, in June 1998. M1’s shareholders Internet content and print media, as are Keppel Group (Singapore’s well as the arts and heritage sectors. largest industrial conglomerate) The Singapore Broadcasting Author- (35%), Singapore Press Holdings ity (SBA) is the statutory board re- (35%), Cable & Wireless (UK) sponsible for broadcasting regulation, (15%) and Pacific Century including Internet content. Cyberworks (Hongkong SAR) (15%). M1 had around 2.1.2 Operators 600’000 mobile cellular subscrib- Singapore’s small size coupled with the ers at 30 June 2000. recent introduction (April 2000) of full telecommunication means that there · StarHub won fixed and mobile

4 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

cellular licenses in April 1998. It second quarter of 2001. It will launched its fixed and mobile leverage its cable television in- services (GSM 1800) on 1 April frastructure to provide cable te- 2000. StarHub bought CyberWay, lephony, its third service after an ISP in January 1999 and cable television and Internet ac- rebranded it as StarHub Internet cess. in December 1999. StarHub is owned by Singapore Technolo- 2.1.3 Market liberalization gies (34.5%), Singapore Power (25.5%), NTT (Japan) (22%) and IDA has tried to abide by a well- BT (UK) (18%). At June 2000 it planned timetable in liberalizing the had 79’000 mobile subscribers industry (see Table 2.1). However, and an estimated five per cent rapid global changes have led the gov- share of the international tel- ernment to advance liberalization on ephone market. several occasions. For example, SingTel initially had a monopoly on · Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) fixed-line and international services , the island’s until 31 March 2007. In May 1996, this cable television monopoly, ob- was changed to a duopoly to begin tained a facilities-based (fixed) 1 April 2000. In January 2000 it was telecommunication license in announced that the duopoly would be June 2000. It is expected to abolished and the market fully opened launch telephone service by the to competition in April 2000. The gov-

Figure 2.1: Singapore Inc.

Ownership of Singapore's telecom industry, June 2000

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Source: ITU compiled from company reports.

5 Singapore Case Study

Table 2.1: Telecom liberalization milestones

Singapore compared to selected Asia-Pacific economies, 1998

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Source: United Nations Development Programme.

6 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

ernment has been successful in ad- are considered local. There are sepa- vancing the liberalization timetable by rate monthly telephone line rentals for convincing incumbent license holders residential and business subscribers. to accept the changes in return for fi- Local calls had been included in the nancial compensation.1 flat monthly charge until Decem- ber 1991 when a usage-based call 2.1.3.1Privatization charge was introduced (1.4 Singapore cents per minute peak and 0.7 Singa- SingTel was partially privatized pore cents off-peak). To compensate, through two public sales of shares to fixed telephone residential monthly the public in October 1993 and Sep- subscriptions were dropped from tember 1996. Temasek, the Singapore S$ 15.83 (US$ 9.13) to S$ 8.33 government holding company, has (US$ 4.8), and business from also made sporadic sales of its hold- S$ 24.17 (US$ 14.24) to S$ 12.50 ings to institutional investors. (US$ 7.21). A second change occurred In July 1999 Temasek held 79.74 per in 1996 when the Goods of Service cent of the company.2 The Singapore’s Tax (GST) was introduced, adding government holdings in the telecom three per cent to telecommunication sector go beyond SingTel as it has in- charges. No further changes to na- direct stakes in all current operators tional fixed telephone charges have through intermediary companies occurred. International call charges (see Figure 2.1). have been steadily declining. SingTel’s average international price per minute 2.1.3.2Licensing dropped from S$ 2.05 (US$ 1.18) in 1996 to S$ 1.21 (US$ 0.7) in 2000. The provision of virtually any telecom- munication service requires a licence Like fixed telephone prices, charges issued by IDA.3 There are two gen- for entry level mobile cellular service eral types of licenses: facilities or serv- have not changed dramatically despite ices. Facilities-based operators require the introduction of competition. The an individual license while services- major innovation has been the intro- based operators may require either an duction of free minutes with the sub- individual license or a class license scription. Singapore has a Receiving (i.e., providers are assumed to have Party Pays system for mobile so users read the licensing guidelines and are must also pay for incoming calls. automatically licensed but neverthe- SingTel Mobile had seven different less should register with IDA). In gen- plans in January 2000 that ranged eral, individual licensees must pay an from S$ 25 (US$ 14.5) – 325 annual license fee equivalent to one (US$ 187.4) per month, depending on per cent of annual revenue subject to the number of free minutes included. the respective minimum sums as elaborated in Table 2.2 below, while 2.1.3.4Interconnection class licensees pay S$ 200 (US$ 115) every three years. Though there are Limited competition prior to April 2000 no pre-defined limits on the number has meant that interconnection has not of licenses, technical limitations (e.g., been much of an issue. Interconnec- spectrum) and market considerations tion among facilities-based operators is influence the issuance of facilities- required but left to commercial nego- based licenses. tiations. IDA is prepared to facilitate the negotiations and can intervene if nec- 2.1.3.3Tariffs essary. In addition, unbundling of net- work facilities is also required. IDA has IDA is responsible for approving tel- issued a Code of Practice to assist with ecommunication tariffs. There have interconnection issues. been few changes to national fixed telephone prices, whose structure is 2.1.3.5Universal service quite straightforward. There are no national long distance tariffs, as calls According to the Info-communications placed and destined within Singapore Development Authority Act of Singa-

7 Singapore Case Study

Table 2.2: Licenses

Status at November 2000

/LFHQFHÃà 1HZÃOLFHQVHVà /LFHQFH5HJLVWUDWLRQÃ)HHà LVVXHGÃDIWHUà Ã$SULOÃà )DFLOLWLHV%DVHGÃ2SHUDWRUVà à à )%2ÃGHVLJQDWHGÃDVÃ37/Ãà à ,QLWLDOÃ)HHÃ1RQHÃ$QQXDOÃ)HHÃÈÃ$*72à 6XEMHFWÃWRÃPLQLPXPÃRIÃ6ÇÃà 86Ç ¶ ÃSHUÃ\HDUà /LFHQFHÃ'XUDWLRQÃÃ\HDUVÃUHQHZDEOHÃIRUÃDà IXUWKHUÃSHULRGÃDVÃ,'$ÃWKLQNVÃILWÃà 7HUUHVWULDOÃWHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQÃQHWZRUNVÃIRUà à ,QLWLDOÃ)HHÃ1RQHÃ$QQXDOÃ)HHÃÈÃ$*72à WHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQÃSXUSRVHVÃà 6XEMHFWÃWRÃPLQLPXPÃRIÃ6ÇÃà 86Ç ¶ ÃSHUÃ\HDUà /LFHQFHÃ'XUDWLRQÃÃ\HDUVÃUHQHZDEOHÃIRUÃDà IXUWKHUÃSHULRGÃDVÃ,'$ÃWKLQNVÃILWà 3XEOLFÃFHOOXODUÃPRELOHÃWHOHSKRQHÃVHUYLFHVà à 7KHÃOLFHQFHÃIHHVÃDQGÃGXUDWLRQÃZLOOÃEHà 3XEOLFÃPRELOHÃEURDGEDQGÃPXOWLPHGLDÃVHUYLFHVà à VSHFLILHGÃWRJHWKHUÃZLWKÃWKHÃDSSURDFKÃWRà 3XEOLFÃIL[HGZLUHOHVVÃEURDGEDQGÃPXOWLPHGLDà à DZDUGÃOLFHQFHVÃ7KHUHÃZLOOÃEHÃDÃVHSDUDWHà VHUYLFHVà FRPSDUDWLYHÃH[HUFLVHà WHQGHUÃRUÃDXFWLRQ ÃE\à UGÃ4XDUWHUÃà 3XEOLFÃUDGLRÃSDJLQJÃVHUYLFHVà à ,QLWLDOÃ)HHÃ1RQHà 3XEOLFÃPRELOHÃGDWDÃVHUYLFHVà à $QQXDOÃ)HHÃÈÃ$*72à 3XEOLFÃWUXQNHGÃUDGLRÃVHUYLFHVà à 6XEMHFWÃWRÃPLQLPXPÃRIÃ6Çöà 86Çà à SHUÃ\HDUà /LFHQFHÃ'XUDWLRQÃÃ\HDUVÃUHQHZDEOHÃIRUÃDà IXUWKHUÃSHULRGÃDVÃ,'$ÃWKLQNVÃILWà 7HUUHVWULDOÃWHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQÃQHWZRUNÃIRUà à ,QLWLDOÃ)HHÃ1RQHà EURDGFDVWLQJÃSXUSRVHVÃRQO\à $QQXDOÃ)HHÃ6Çöà 86Çà à 6DWHOOLWHÃ8SOLQN'RZQOLQNÃIRUÃEURDGFDVWLQJà à /LFHQFHÃ'XUDWLRQÃÃ\HDUVÃUHQHZDEOHÃRQÃDà SXUSRVHVà \HDUO\ÃEDVLVà 6HUYLFHV%DVHGÃ2SHUDWRUVà à à 6HUYLFHV%DVHGÃ2SHUDWRUVÃWRÃEHÃ,QGLYLGXDOO\Ã/LFHQVHGà 6%2à ,QGLYLGXDO à à ,QLWLDOÃ)HHÃ1RQHà $QQXDOÃ)HHÃÈÃ$*72à VXEMHFWÃWRÃPLQLPXPÃRIÃ6Çöà 86Çà  ÃSHUÃ\HDUà /LYHÃ$XGLRWH[ÃVHUYLFHVÃRQO\à à 6ÇÃà 86Çà ÃHYHU\ÃWKUHH\HDUO\à 6HUYLFHV%DVHGÃ2SHUDWRUVÃWRÃEHÃ&ODVVñÃ/LFHQVHGà 6%2à &ODVV à à 6ÇÃà 86Çà ÃHYHU\ÃWKUHH\HDUO\à 5HVDOHÃRIÃSXEOLFÃVZLWFKHGÃWHOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQà à 1RÃUHJLVWUDWLRQÃIHHÃSD\DEOHà VHUYLFHVà 6WRUHÃDQGÃUHWULHYHÃYDOXHDGGHGÃQHWZRUNà à 1RÃUHJLVWUDWLRQÃIHHÃSD\DEOHà VHUYLFHVà ZLWKRXWÃWKHÃXVHÃRIÃOHDVHGÃFLUFXLWV Ã

Source: ITU adapted from IDA.

pore Act 1999, IDA is responsible for ice. Exact figures on household tel- ensuring that “telecommunication ephone penetration are not compiled, services are reasonably accessible to probably because it is assumed that all people in Singapore, and are sup- almost every family has a phone. A plied as efficiently and economically statistical calculation based on the as practicable.” It has a number of number of residential telephone lines tools at its disposal for ensuring this, results in a ratio of over 100 per cent. such as the right to impose price con- This is due to the growing portion of trols or obligate public telecommuni- homes with second fixed lines (some cation licensees to provide basic twenty per cent at March 2000). Mo- services to anyone in Singapore who bile is also helping to enhance access requests it. Singapore has achieved a to telephone services. At the end of high level of universal telephone serv- 1998, over half of Singapore’s house-

8 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

holds had a mobile phone. There is a 2.1.4Network complete nationwide mobile coverage. That fact, coupled with the availabil- Singapore has a well-developed domes- ity of prepaid cards, means that there tic communication network with 27 tele- is no infrastructure limitation to uni- phone exchanges. The fixed network versal telecommunication access. has been fully digitalized since 1994.

Figure 2.2: Telephone subscribers

Fixed and mobile telephone subscribers (000s), Singapore

2’500 70%

V 60%  2’000   50% 3 Ã H UV 1’500 Q H 40% H E W UL U F 30% D V 1’000 LW E R X 20% Q 6 500 10% 0 0% Mar-98 Mar-99 Mar-00 Jul-00 Fixed lines 1’685 1’778 1’877 1’905 Mobile subscribers 849 1’095 1’631 1’970 Fixed penetration 54.3% 56.2% 58.3% 58.4% Mobile penetration 27.3% 34.6% 50.7% 60.4%

Source: ITU adapted from IDA.

Figure 2.3: SingTel revenue

SingTel's revenue, 1996-2000, US$ million and distribution of revenue, year ending March 2000

6LQJ7HOÃWHOHFRPÃUHYHQXHÃ86ÇÃPLOOLRQ Posts IT 7% 7% $3’500 International as % of total 50% $3’000 Data Equipment 40% Mobile 16% 4% $2’500 17% $2’000 30% Other 8% Directory $1’500 National 20% 2% 12% Internat’l $1’000 Others 10% 7HOHSKRQH 33% $500 2% $0 0% 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 6LQJ7HOÃUHYHQXHÃGLVWULEXWLRQÃ\HDUÃHQGLQJÃ

Note: Years ending 31 March. Share of international revenue is based on total revenue. Source: ITU adapted from SingTel data.

9 Singapore Case Study

The Singapore One Network for Every- connect eight Asian economies and be one (ONE) backbone uses ATM technol- the highest capacity submarine cable ogy over fibre optic cable at speeds of in the region. The country has three up to 622 Mbps. The island has five dig- Intelsat satellite earth stations. In ad- ital mobile cellular networks (two dition, the country launched its own GSM 900, two GSM 1800 and one satellite, ST-1, in August 1998. Its foot- CDMA). A significant milestone occurred print covers most of Asia and is one of in July 2000 when the number of mo- the most powerful in the region. bile cellular subscribers exceeded fixed telephone lines. International telecommunication traffic has always been important for the is- 2.1.5 International service land-state with a trade-oriented economy. Although revenues from in- Singapore has over 14’000 telephone ternational telephone traffic provide the circuits with international terrestrial largest proportion of SingTel’s revenue, links to Malaysia and submarine cable this share has declined to 34 per cent and satellite links to the rest of the in 1999 from over 50 per cent in 1993. world. Investments in regional subma- Yet overall profitability has not been rine fibre cable systems include SEA- affected due to growing revenue from ME-WE 3, China-US and Japan-US. other sources such as data and Internet SingTel and nine other regional telecom services. There were 885 million min- operators are building a new 2.5 terabits utes of outgoing international telephone per second optic fibre submarine cable traffic (excluding Malaysia) in the year to be completed in 2002. When finished, ending 31 March 2000, up six per cent the Asia-Pacific Cable Network 2 will over the previous period.

Box 2.1: Mobile Internet

The island’s three mobile operators have been ac- speed of 38.4 kbps. StarHub launched a GPRS tively promoting mobile data and Internet access. trial at the end of October 2000. All provide Short Messaging Service (SMS)—a sort of precursor to mobile Internet—including sup- The take-up of mobile Internet in Singapore thus port for Chinese if users have the appropriate far appears to be lukewarm compared to Japan’s handset. M1 claims that its users send one mil- popular i-mode service. Hard data about the number lion SMS messages a day.4 Mobile Internet based of users is difficult to come by. StarHub claimed on the Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) was initi- more than 10’000 WAP users at end Septem- ated in the first half of 2000. M1 launched its Mi ber 2000 while SingTel Mobile stated it had World service in February, SingTel’s e-ideas serv- 20’000 Mobile Office customers in early Septem- ice was commercially introduced in March and ber. There are no published figures for M1 regard- StarHub’s iPower was available from April. The ing mobile Internet customers. IDA’s figure for operators have been busy developing and sign- mobile data services subscribers—which captures ing up content providers for their mobile portals. customers of Public Mobile Data licensees but does Applications include online banking, stock inquir- not include WAP users—was 11’700 at September ies, and news and sports results. 2000. Extrapolating from the available data, there were less than 50’000 mobile Internet users in Sep- The mobile operators have begun developing tember 2000 or about two per cent of the total faster mobile Internet services to boost GSM’s mobile subscriber base. Resistance to mobile normal speed of 9.6 kbps. M1’s WAP service uti- Internet is related to pricing and handset availabil- lizes a special platform that provides 14.4 kbps ity. All operators have waived WAP registration and allowing it to boast of Singapore’s fastest serv- subscription fees. Usage is charged on a basis of ice. In December 2000, M1 claimed to be the first ten Singapore cents (5.8 US cents) per minute. to have launched General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming. It builds on the world’s first WAP In October 2000, IDA announced the procedure for roaming service with Hongkong (started in July awarding third generation (3G) mobile licenses.5 2000); roaming subscribers can access the Mi Unexpectedly, it has decided to use an auction sys- World portal at 36 kbps from Hongkong. Calls are tem to award four licenses. The rationale was that routed over an IP network to get around interna- an auction is the most objective way of awarding tional long distance rates. SingTel launched a fast the licenses. The floor price at which the auction wireless service in September using High Speed will begin has been set at S$ 150 (US$ 86.5) mil- Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD). This provides a lion. The auction will be held in April 2001.

10 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

2.2 Information Technology 44 per cent, the second highest in the Sector Asia-Pacific region (after Australia). Singapore’s household computer pen- Singapore has a vibrant IT sector. The etration stood at 59 per cent in 1999, electronics industry, including compu- up almost 20 per cent over the previ- ter equipment manufacturing, is large ous year and translating into the sec- and the country is a large export base ond highest in the Asia-Pacific region for major multinational companies after Japan. such as IBM, Hitachi and Sun. Indeed, exports of Office Machines (which in- 2.2.2 The Internet market clude data processing equipment) was some S$ 41 billion (US$ 23.7 billion) Singapore was one of the first coun- in 1999, more than a third of the coun- tries in Asia to get an Internet con- try’s total exports. There are around nection. This was the culmination of 93’000 people employed in the ICT many years of connectivity experience sector in the country, growing at 10- with academic networks preceding the 12 per cent a year. Professional and Internet. The pioneering network ini- industry associations include the Sin- tiatives of the National University of gapore Computer Society Singapore (NUS) were critical, attest- and Singapore In- ing to the importance of the academic formation Technology Federation sector in developing a sustainable . Internet environment.7 Networking activities date back to the early 1980s 2.2.1 Computer market when Singaporeans obtained new-to- market personal computers and set up There is a large selection of computer Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).8 Some equipment available in Singapore with of these BBS had daily dial-up con- many retail outlets. There are even nections to the international FIDOnet two shopping malls mostly devoted to for exchanging emails and files with computer products. Prices are reason- users in other countries. In 1987, the able with a Compaq iPAQ Desktop NUS joined BITNET with the first email (Pentium III, 500 MHz processor) cost- received from the City University of ing S$ 1’588 (US$ 915) in July 2000, New York in January over a 4800 bps around US$ 40 less than if purchased link. This was the first Asian link out- over Compaq’s US web site. side of Japan to the BITNET and is cited as a milestone in Singapore’s According to IDC, some 427’000 per- early Internet lead over other coun- sonal computers were sold in Singa- tries. Another first took place in Au- pore in 1999, an increase of almost gust 1990 when a 64kpbs Internet link 30 per cent over the previous year.6 was established between NUS and It is estimated that there are around Princeton University in the United 1.7 million PCs in use on the island, States. This was the first Internet site resulting in a penetration rate of in Singapore and the Southeast Asian

Table 2.3: Singapore PC Market

à à à PC sold (000s) 370 332 427 Estimated PC base (000s) 1’244 1’450 1’703 PCs per 100 people 33.3% 37.5% 43.7% Percent households with PC 35.8% 41.0% 58.9%

Note: Estimated base derived from sales data. Source: ITU adapted from IDC, IDA and national statistics.

11 Singapore Case Study

region. Full Internet connectivity for years after that. The license fee is one NUS was officially launched in April per cent of annual gross turnover. In 1991. Other regional firsts for NUS addition, ISPs are automatically include the first Gopher server in 1992 granted a class license by SBA, which and the first World Wide Web server covers content issues; they are sup- in 1993. posed to register with SBA within 14 days after commencing service. In 1992, TechNet was established to provide Internet connectivity for the IDA has been publishing Internet dial- island’s R&D community, extending up subscriber figures since January access beyond NUS. Technet was later 1997. At June 2000, IDA reported 1.8 ‘commercialized’ and became Singa- million dial-up subscribers, resulting pore’s second ISP known as Pacific in a penetration rate of 54.2 per cent. Internet. SingTel launched public The number of subscribers rose sub- Internet services in July 1994 through stantially from December 1999 to its SingNet subsidiary. These two ISPs March 2000, since the launching of were joined by the then Cyberway, free ISP service by StarHub in Decem- which launched service in March 1996. ber 1999. This was followed by These three were the only companies SingNet which provides each of its allowed to provide Internet service telephone subscribers with a free until October 1998 when the ISP mar- Internet account via its mysingtel por- ket was opened. By June 2000, there tal. In addition SingNet has waived were 18 licensed ISPs in Singapore dial-up telephone usage charges for (see Table 2.4) although the original its Internet clients that subscribe to a three retain the bulk of the consumer monthly package. Growth has been dial-up market with most of the new- flat since March 2000, with the comers either serving niche corporate number of Internet subscribers markets9 or not yet in operation. roughly equivalent to the number of telephone lines. ISPs are granted a license by IDA. The license is valid for a period of three As a result of free access, figures for years, renewable for another three Internet subscribers are a bit mislead-

Figure 2.4. Internet subscribers in Singapore

Estimated number of Internet users, 1996-1999

,QWHUQHWÃVXEVFULEHUVÃ V ,QWHUQHWÃXVHUVÃ V 43.4% 2’000 60% x % Per cent of population 36.1% 55.2% 1’800 50% x % Per cent of population 15+ 46.0% 1’600 Per cent of population 1’743 24.4% 1’400 40% 1’451 1’200 19.6% 31.4% 14.2% 1’000 30% 25.3% 18.1% 951 800 20% 765 600 570 400 10% 200 0 0% Nielsen IDA (6/99) SCV NetValue Nielsen Jan-97 Dec-97Dec-98Dec-99 Jan-00 Jun-00 (6/00) (12/99) (9/00) (6/00)

Note: Left chart: ‘Free’ Internet access was introduced in December 1999. Right chart: Figure in paren- thesis refers to date of survey. The smaller Nielsen figure refers to home users accessing Internet in the last month. IDA refers to their household IT survey. SCV refers to Singapore Cable Vision survey provided to author. NetValue data is derived from percentage of 15+ Internet users. The larger Nielsen figure refers to the total Internet universe. Source: ITU adapted from IDA, Nielsen, SCV and NetValue data.

12 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

Table 2.4: ISPs in Singapore

Licensed ISPs, June 2000

,63à :HEÃVLWHà Ã1HWÃ6LQJDSRUHÃà KWWSZZZQHWFRPVJà 2 AT&T Worldwide Telecommunications Services à 3 Cable & Wireless Network Services (Singapore) à ÃÃ&LUFOHÃ'RWÃ&RPà 6 Ãà à ÃÃ&RQFHUWÃ*OREDOÃ1HWZRUNà 6 Ãà à ÃÃ'DWDRQHà Ã$VLD Ãà KWWSZZZGDWDRQHFRPà ÃÃ(TXDQWÃ6LQJDSRUHÃà à ÃÃ*OREDOÃ2QHÃ&RPPXQLFDWLRQVÃà à ÃÃ/*$Ã7HOHFRPÃà à ÃÃ/RUDOÃ&\EHUVWDUÃ,QWHUQDWLRQDOÃ,QFÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃà à ÃÃ3DFLILFÃ,QWHUQHWÃà KWWSZZZSDFIXVLRQFRPVJÃà ÃÃ6LQJDSRUHÃ7HOHFRPPXQLFDWLRQÃÃÃÃÃÃÃà KWWSP\VLQJQHWFRPVJà ÃÃ6WDU+XEÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃÃÃÃÃÃÃà KWWSZZZVWDUKXEQHWVJà ÃÃ6WWFRPÃà KWWSZZZVWWFRPVJà ÃÃ6ZLIWHFKÃ$XWRPDWLRQÃà KWWSZZZVZLIWHFKQHWVJà ÃÃ70,Ã7HOHPHGLDÃ,QWHUQDWLRQDOÃ+RQNÃ.RQJÃà à ÃÃ881(7Ã6LQJDSRUHÃà KWWSZZZXXQHWVJà ÃÃ:LQVWDUÃ&RPPXQLFDWLRQVÃ6LQJDSRUHÃà Ã

Note: These are licensed ISPs and not necessarily in operation. Source: ITU adapted from IDA.

ing. Singapore is one of the rare coun- ONE.13 The network is based on Asyn- tries where the number of regular chronous Transfer Mode (ATM) switch- Internet users is less than the number ing technology with fibre optic of subscribers. A number of recent transmission speeds at up to surveys provide differing figures on 622 Mbps. Internet use on the island (see Fig- ure 2.4). A 1999 survey provided by Broadband local access is available SCV based on a sample of 4’200 peo- through two services. The first is ca- ple states that roughly one third ble modem access provided by Sin- (32.4%) of the population used the gapore Cable Vision. The second is Internet. A March 2000 survey put the SingNet’s ADSL Magix service. Over active Internet universe at 99 per cent of the island’s households 404’000 users (10 per cent of popu- are passed by broadband infrastruc- lation).10 Yet another study, released ture and there were 250’000 users in in September 2000, stated that Sin- September 2000.14 gapore had the highest Internet pen- etration in Asia with 46 per cent of Singapore’s international Internet con- the population older than 15 access- nectivity is, on a per capita basis, one ing the Internet in the past month.11 of the highest in the world thanks to SingTel’s Internet Exchange (STIX).15 Singapore’s high level of Internet de- It is connected to over 30 countries velopment is reflected by its active with some 800 Mbps of bandwidth. promotion of high speed Internet ac- cess through the nationwide 2.3 Mass media broadband Singapore ONE network. Singapore ONE is a government-led There is a high level of technology initiative to develop broadband infra- adoption by Singapore’s mass media. structure and services.12 1-Net pro- This includes not only the Internet but vides the infrastructure for Singapore also other advanced broadcasting

13 Singapore Case Study

technology such as Digital Audio aided by the perception that Singa- Broadcasting (DAB) and Digital Televi- pore’s media is more objective—par- sion (DTV). Virtually all of Singapore’s ticularly for Chinese language newspapers and radio and television reporting—than other regional media. stations have web sites. Many have Despite the variety of newspapers and gone further by building portals, de- broadcast stations, they are all owned veloping content or providing audio by two companies. The country has and video streaming. Singapore’s rela- recently partly liberalized the media tively small market size encourages sector by notably allowing the lead- media companies to develop Internet ing printed media company to get into properties with regional pull. This is broadcasting and vice versa.

Box 2.2: From printed newspapers to online ones

AsiaOne , a Singapore Press with more than 200 cyber stores) and voice serv- Holdings (SPH) dot-com spin-off, illustrates how ices. A successful business model has been to Singaporean media companies are embracing the bring news online before it comes out in print. Internet. It originated within SPH as a multimedia AsiaOne also provides free email accounts and division and was listed in June 2000 when 13 per sends out breaking news to subscribers. These cent of its shares were sold to the public. AsiaOne methods keep users sticky to the site. AsiaOne hosts the online version of SPH’s seven newspaper has also reached out to mobile users through a editions. It also has content on various subjects WAP service that provides news headlines and such as women, health, careers, travel, food, auc- restaurant listings. tions, investment, and IT.. Other services include call centre support for horoscopes, sports results, AsiaOne has a daily average Page View of three and polling over the telephone. and ranks second in terms of time spent on Singaporean sites with an average 28 minutes per The main source of AsiaOne’s revenue is online session. AsiaOne also operates Zaobao Online, the advertising. It believes this will grow due to in- Internet version of Singapore’s leading Chinese creasing Internet usage and liberalization of the newspaper. Zaobao is a Chinese language portal Singaporean media market, which will attract that packages the news content of Lianhe Zaobao more advertizers. Other sources of AsiaOne rev- and overseas Chinese newspapers with a host of enue include e-commerce transaction services web features and services aimed at Chinese-speak- (being one of the largest online shopping malls ing audiences around the world.

Box Table 2.2: Singapore’s top web sites

Ranked by time spent per person, July 2000

Property Unique audience Reach %Time per person

1. MSN 238,014 43.38 0: 42: 33 2. AsiaOne 80,652 14.70 0: 28: 50 3. Yahoo! 278,629 50.78 0: 26: 26 4. Pacific Internet 158,823 28.94 0: 12: 51 5. Singapore Telecom 217,377 39.62 0: 11: 57 6. Lycos 131,304 23.93 0: 09: 02 7. Excite@Home 66,351 12.09 0: 08: 31 8. AOL Websites 146,486 26.70 0: 07: 07 9. AltaVista 81,404 14.84 0: 06: 56 10. Microsoft 107,175 19.53 0: 04: 23

Note: The data only cover home Internet users. Source: Nielsen//NetRatings.

14 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

2.3.1 Print are TCS5, TCS8, Suria, Central, There are eleven local daily papers— Sportscity, and Channel NewsAsia. six English, three Chinese and one Singapore’s largest terrestrial broad- each in Malay and Tamil. There are caster, Television Corporations of Sin- also about 190 foreign newspapers gapore (TCS), now known as and more than 5’000 foreign maga- MediaCorp TV, owns and manages the zines available in Singapore. Daily cir- entertainment channels, Channel 5, culation for the local papers is over Channel 8, Sportscity, and the Malay one million with the English language entertainment and information chan- papers accounting for more than half. nel, Suria, as well as the one special- Seven of the papers are on the web, ized in programs for and on children, made easier by the fact that they are Indian- and arts communities, Cen- all published by Singapore Press Hold- tral. Channel 5 and 8 offer viewers ings (SPH) (see Box 2.2).16 round-the-clock quality English and Mandarin mass entertainment and in- 2.3.2 Broadcasting formation programs respectively. Sportscity offers sports fans sporting Singapore has a diverse broadcast action from around the world. scene, despite the fact that it has tra- MediaCrop News owns and manages ditionally been government-owned. In Channel NewsAsia (CAN). CAN pro- 1994, the Singapore Broadcasting vides timely news and information on Corporation was corporatized as the global developments with a unique Singapore International Media Group Asian perspective. In September 2000 (SIM) whose subsidiaries include all MediaCorp News launched its second the leading broadcasters: Radio Cor- feed, Channel NewsAsia (Interna- poration of Singapore (known as tional), to cater to viewers outside MediaCorp Radio), Television Corpo- Singapore. MediaCorp TV also owns ration of Singapore and Singapore TVMobile, Singapore’s first outdoor Television Twelve. SIM underwent a digital television channel, and restructuring in 1999 and has been MDigital, which promises viewers the renamed Media Corporation of Singa- interactive television experience of the pore. future.18 In July 2000, the government announced that is was prepared to 2.3.2.1Radio grant SPH licenses to run up to two There are 18 FM radio stations on the free-to-air TV and two radio channels. island of which twelve belong to Ra- Shortly after, SPH MediaWorks was dio Corporation of Singapore (RCS).17 formed and announced that it would RCS, now known as MediaCorp Radio, start its commercial TV channels, TV broadcasts in four languages, reach- Works and Channel U, by May 2001. ing about 2.5 million listeners a week. All RCS’s stations are on Internet via Singapore has a license fee system its main web page (http:// whereby all television set owners are radio.mediacorpsingapore.com/). required to pay an annual charge. Li- cense fees generated S$ 92 million The Internet has provided a way for (US$ 53 million) for SBA during its new stations to overcome scarce FM 1999/2000 fiscal year, accounting for frequency by developing web sites 88 per cent of revenue. Ironically, de- with audio broadcasts. For example, spite a ban against chewing gum and UTV Entertainment has webcasts with six video and around 20 per cent of Singapore’s two audio-on-demand channels over households are evading license fees. the broadband Singapore One net- Though television penetration is felt work. MediaCorp Radio also operates to be near universal, SBA had issued 20 NetRadio channels at http:// around 759’000 licenses at Decem- radioeastwest.com. ber 2000, accounting for about 90 per cent of the households in the country. 2.3.2.2Television There are currently six free-to-air tel- Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) was li- evision stations on the island. They censed in June 1995 as the monopoly

15 Singapore Case Study

Table 2.5 Mass media indicators

,QGLFDWRUÃ 9DOXHÃ 6RXUFHÃ Daily newspaper circulation 1,068,942 1999. Statistics Singapore. Per 1’000 inhabitants 275 Television licenses 715’000 At 31/3/99. SBA Households with license 80% 891’000 households per SBA at 31/3/99 Cable TV subscribers 207’000 1999. Statistics Singapore

Source: ITU adapted from Sources shown.

provider of cable television services depending on the package chosen. on the island.19 It was required to ca- There were some 255’000 Cable TV ble all homes on the island by Janu- subscribers by December 2000 or ary 1, 2000. The S$ 600 million around one quarter of all homes. (US$ 346) hybrid fibre-coaxial net- work was completed three months After three years of trial, SCV com- early in September 1999.20 By March mercially launched its cable modem 1999, more than 820’000 homes, or service in December 1999. There were 92 per cent of all Singaporean house- some 37’000 cable modem subscrib- holds had been cabled. SCV has a ers in December 2000. The connec- number of subscription packages. The tion charge is S$ 51.50 (US$ 30) and entry package, the Basic Tier, costs the monthly fee is S$ 76 (US$ 44). It S$ 33.94 (US$ 20) per month and in- is S$ 66 (US$ 38) for existing cable cludes free channels like the six local TV subscribers. terrestrial stations, two Malaysian ones and SCV’s Preview Channel. Up There is currently a ban on Direct-To- to 40 additional channels are available Home (DTH) satellite reception.

16 2. Information and Communication Technology markets

1 The compensation is based on the estimated loss of earnings from competition. SingTel was compensated S$ 859 (US$ 495) million and StarHub S$ 1’082 million (US$ 623’000) for moving forward the date of full competition from 1 April 2002 to 1 April 2000. See IDA. “IDA Announces Compensation to SingTel and StarHub.” IDA Media Release. 11 September 2000. 2 Temasek also owns a Special Share which ensures that no major changes can be made to SingTel without its prior written approval. Temasek’s web site is http://www.temasekholdings.com.sg 3 IDA’s licensing and regulatory powers are granted under the 1999 Telecommunications Act. 4 M1. “M1 SMS to rival networks now free.” Press Release. 26 June 2000. 5 IDA. “IDA Announces 3G Licensing Framework.” Press Release. 20 October 2000. 6 IDC. “Asian PC Market Surges to Over 14.1 Million Units in 1999, Says IDC.” Press Release. 14 February 2000. http://www.idc.com.sg/Press/releases/PR-AP-PC_99.htm. 7 Overcoming a sense of isolation has been put forth as a prime reason for the keen interest of Singapore’s academic community to establish international computer connections. 8 Much of the history of the Internet in Singapore in this section is based on Bernard Tan. “Origins of the Internet in Singapore (Part 1).” ‘envision’ (Singapore Broadcasting Authority). January-March 2000 as well as a forthcoming draft of Part 2 provided to us by Dr. Tan. 9 For example a number of the newly licensed ISPs such as Equant are global ISPs; their Singaporean operations are targetted at their global customers (many of which have their regional headquarters in Singapore). Others, such as DataOne, target the business community by providing value-added services in addition to plain ISP. 10 See Nielsen/NetRatings. “Nielsen//NetRatings Announces First-Ever Multi-Country Internet Audience Measurement Results.” Press Release. 4 May 2000. 11 NetValue. “Asian Internet Users Come Out of the Closet.” Press Release. 4 September 2000. www.netvalue.com/corp/presse/cp0013.htm 12 http://www.s-one.gov.sg/mainmenu.html. 13 1-Net’s web site is: http://www.1-net.com.sg/index.cfm. A network diagram is available at http://www.1-net.com.sg/images/aboutus/s-one/Network.gif and a schematic of the types of services is available at http://www.1-net.com.sg/images/aboutus/s-one/s1apps.gif. In September 2000, IDA announced that 1-Net’s shareholders would sell their holdings to MediaCorp. See IDA. “Industry Players Divest 1-Net shares to Mediacorp.” Media Release. 27 September 2000. 14 IDA. “Singapore One Reaches a Quarter of a Million Users.” Media Release. 18 September 2000. 15 http://www.ix.singtel.com/services4.html. 16 http://www.sph.com.sg. 17 The AM radio frequency is not used. 18 MediaCorp TV’s web site addresss is http://tv.mediacorpsingapore.com. 19 SCV’s owners are Media Corporation of Singapore (41.3%), ST Telecommunications (32%), and Singapore Press Holdings (26.7%) and its web site is (www.scv.com.sg). 20 Technically, all residential estates have access to cable television. This includes all Housing Development Board homes which make up 85 per cent of all homes in Singapore. See Vivien Chiong. “Broadband your future.” Envision (Publication of Singapore Broadcasting Authority). October-December 1999.

17 Singapore Case Study

3. Internet policy

3.1 Role of incumbent ISPs.4 Another reason is that though telecom operator SingTel has made the lion’s share of investment in national and interna- SingTel, the incumbent telecom opera- tional Internet connectivity, it has thus tor, is deeply involved in the Internet. far peered with other national ISPs. 1 Activities range from Internet serv- ice provision to one of the most ex- 3.2 Pricing tensive international Internet backbones in the world.2 SingNet, There are a range of Internet dial-up SingTel’s Internet subsidiary was the plans in Singapore. They revolve country’s first commercial ISP, launch- around three models: ing service in July 1994. This early start has given it an advantage as to- · “Free” Internet access but sub- day it has the largest base of paying scriber pays for telephone usage dial-up subscribers. Another advan- charges - S$ 0.84 (US$ 0.48) per tage is SingTel’s fixed telephone net- hour peak, that is 8am to 6pm work; in December 1999 it announced weekdays - and S$ 0.42 that it would provide free Internet and (US$ 0.24) per hour off peak; e-mail accounts to all telephone sub- scribers.3 SingTel benefits from dial- · Monthly Internet access fee for up Internet traffic since users have to a certain number of hours of use pay local telephone charges. It has an with no telephone usage charges; agreement with StarHub to share tel- and ephone usage charges for the latter’s free Internet access service. There is · Monthly Internet access fee plus remarkably little rancour among other telephone usage charges. ISPs despite SingTel’s advantages. One reason is that SingTel has agreed The free Internet plan generally works to provide unbundled access to other out the cheapest so it is unclear why anyone would opt for a paid subscription unless Figure 3.1: Who is the cheapest? they are really heavy users.5 A price compari- Dial-up Internet access charges including telephone son among Asia-Pacific usage charges, selected countries, June 2000, US$ countries for 30 hours per month of Internet access is shown in Fig- 35 ,QWHUQHWÃDFFHVVÃFKDUJHVÃÃKRXUVÃ86ÇÃ-XQHà  ure 3.1. At 30 hours of 30  use, Singapore has the lowest dial-up charges 25  compared to selected 20 7HOHSKRQH ISPs in the Asia-Pacific ,63 region (Figure 3.1).6 15  10   Broadband access serv-  5  ices available in Singapore  include conventional 0 leased lines, Integrated Australia Indonesia Malaysia N. Zealand Singapore Services Digital Network (ISDN), Asymmetric Source: ITU adapted from Sources shown. Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), and cable mo-

18 3. Internet policy

Table 3.1: Internet access prices

Dial-up Internet access charges for 30 hours of use per month, Singapore, June 2000, Singapore Dollars, not including tax

à &KDUJHÃIRUÃÃKRXUVÃà SHUÃPRQWKà ,63à 3ODQà -RLQLQJà 0RQWKO\à )UHHà ([WUDà ,63Ãà 7HOH 7RWDOà IHHÃà IHHÃà KRXUVÃà KRXUÃà SKRQHÃà Ãà )UHHÃRIISHDNà à à à à à à à Ãà )UHHÃDYHUDJHà à à à à à à à 6LQJ1HWà 3ODQÃ,,à à à à à à à à Ãà )UHHÃSHDNà à à à à à à à 3DFLILFà (DV\Ã$FFHVVà à à à à à à à 3OXVà 3DFLILFà 8QOLPLWHGà à à à à à à à 6WDU+XEà 8QOLPLWHGà à à à à à à à 6LQJ1HWà 3ODQÃ,à à à à à à à à 3DFLILFà (DV\Ã$FFHVVà à à à à à à à à 6LQJ1HWà 3ODQÃ/LWHÃ6XUIà à à à à à à à 3DFLILFà 6XUIÃ1Ã6DYHà à à à à à à Ã

Note: 1/ Connection fee for signing up with the service. 2/ Monthly fee for subscription-based packages. 3/ The number of free hours included for subscription-based packages. 4/ Amount to pay for exceeding free hours. 5/ The monthly ISP fee plus extra hour fee if applicable. 6/ Telephone usage charges where applicable (S$ 0.84 (US$ 0.48)) per hour peak - 8am to 6pm weekdays - and S$ 0.42 (US$ 0.24) per hour off peak). For subscription-based packages, an average of S$ 0.63 (US$ 0.36) per hour has been used. 7/ StarHub and SingTel offer” free” Internet access (telephone charges are applicable). The joining fee for StarHub is S$ 29.95 (US$ 17). 8/ Free Internet access based on off-peak telephone usage. 9/ Free Internet access based on aver- age of peak and off-peak (15 hours each) telephone usage. 10/ Free Internet access based on peak-rate telephone usage. 11/ Unlimited usage. Source: ITU adapted from ISP data.

dem. ADSL and cable modem are be- plan is more appropriate for those ing promoted as consumer broadband engaged in general web surfing. access services in Singapore. They are SingNet is also exploring unlimited cheaper than conventional offerings access to local sites arguing that an such as leased lines or ISDN but on a unrestricted flat rate package is not strict per price comparison, more ex- feasible due to the high cost of inter- pensive than dial-up Internet access. national Internet connectivity. Cable modem access is a better value (e.g., unlimited use) and more com- In November 2000, IDA announced parable to international pricing than that in February 2001 it would auc- ADSL (see Table 3.2). 7 In November tion five lots of spectrum for Fixed 2000 SingNet introduced flat rate, Wireless Broadband (FWB) as yet an- volume-based packages for ADSL. other alternative to high speed These packages allow unlimited use Internet access. Most FWB technology up to between 250 – 1’000 Megabytes. is based on Local Multi-point Distri- After those limits have been passed, bution Services (LMDS) that theoreti- users are charged S$ 2.95 (US$ 1.7) cally can provide speeds of up to per ten Megabytes. SingNet states 155 Mbps. In January 2001, IDA an- that the time-based package is more nounced a delay in the auction until suitable for those downloading multi- after May based on input from poten- media files while the volume-based tial bidders who stated they needed

19 Singapore Case Study

Table 3.2: Broadband Internet pricing

September 2000, US$

([WUDÃ 7D[HVÃ 0RQWKO\Ã ,63Ã 7\SHÃ &RQQHFWLRQÃ +RXUVÃ +RXUÃ ,QFOXGHGÃ SULFHÃ 6&9Ã &DEOHÃ Ã 8QOLPLWHGÃ Ã

Note: Converted to US$ at June 2000 exchange rates. 1/ For existing cable television subscribers. Source: ITU adapted from ISP data.

more time to assess the technical fea- They were provided with a five year sibility and market situation. One license (renewable in a 3 yearly ba- problem has been a deterioration of sis) in exchange for a one-time quality when it rains, something that S$ 450’000 (US$ 259’000) license fee happens quite often in Singapore. and an annual payment of one per cent of annual gross turnover subject 3.3 Regulatory issues to a minimum of S$10’000 (US$ 5’765). This trio had the market 3.3.1 ISP to themselves until October 1998 As with telecommunication liberaliza- when IDA lifted its ban on market en- tion, Singapore has progressively try. The combination of the relatively eased the conditions for providing high license fee, small market size, Internet access. Two new ISPs—Pa- and restrictions on foreign investment cific Internet and Cyberway (now attracted only one new entrant. In StarHub Internet)—were licensed in September 1999, the foreign equity September 1995 to compete with limit of 49 per cent was lifted, attract- SingNet, Singapore Telecom’s ISP. ing an additional two ISPs, Cable and Wireless and UUNet. Market entry into the Internet access Table 3.3: ISP Quality of provision market was further Service conditions liberalized from 1 April 2000— along with full telecommunica- 3DUDPHWHUà 426Ã6WDQGDUGà tion market opening—when the Network availability over 99.5% one time license fee was System accessibility changed to a yearly payment - Dial-up access over 95% of one per cent of annual gross - Leased-line access over 99% revenue or a minimum of Service Activation Time S$ 10’000 per year. from date of receipt of application - Dial-up access 3 working days ISP service falls under IDA’s - Leased-line access 7 working days Service-Based Operator (SBO) Individual license category.8 The license is called an Internet Source: IDA. Access Service Provider (IASP). This type of license allows the

20 3. Internet policy

licensee to “establish, install and when the World Telecommunication maintain a public Internet access fa- Standardization Assembly—the body cility for the provision of public that proposes principles for interna- Internet access services.” 9 There were tional telephone charging—endorsed 28 IASP licenses at September 2000. a recommendation that calls for more ISPs must seek IDA’s approval for pric- equitable cost sharing of international ing and meet certain minimum qual- Internet connections.12 ity of service levels. This includes 99 per cent network availability, 95 per 3.3.2 Top level domain name cent dial-up availability and process- ing dial-up applications within three The Singaporean top level domain days and leased lines within one week. (ccTLD .sg) is administered by the Sin- gapore Network Information Centre An SBO (Individual) licence is neces- (SGNIC) . SGNIC sary to provide international Internet was formed in October 1995 to take access and traffic exchange. Singa- over domain name management from pore Telecommunications was the sole TechNet when it was sold to Internet Exchange Service Provider Sembawang Media (establishing Pa- (IXSP) until June 1999 when this mar- cific Internet). SGNIC’s present mem- ket segment was opened. As of Sep- bers are the three original ISPs and tember 2000, there were 16 IXSPs. IDA. Singapore follows a traditional scheme for second-level domain In the past, peering was not much of names (i.e., .com, .gov, .edu, .net, an issue since there were only three .org) with very specific registration ISPs and they agreed to exchange requirements.13 A recent addition is traffic through the Singapore One the personal (.per) second-level do- broadband network. Whether this situ- main that allows applicants to use their ation will continue is uncertain given own name for web site addresses the growing competitiveness of the (e.g., www.yourname.per.sg). The fee ISP market. for registering a domain name is S$ 60 (US$ 35) per year. According to Groups such as cybercafes, hotels and the Internet Software Consortium, others are allowed to resell Internet there were 148’249 hosts using the access without having to apply for a .sg domain name in January 2000. Al- license since they would normally be though practically all government-re- provided service by a IASP. They are lated organizations use the .sg domain not allowed to price service higher name there is some evidence that than the rates of the IASP. businesses are also using the three- letter .com for their web sites. Accord- Singapore has been at the forefront ing to Network Solutions, one of the of the campaign for equitable cost registrars for the .com top-level do- sharing of Internet circuits to the main, Singapore ranks twentieth in United States. Foreign ISPs have tra- .com registrations (although behind a ditionally borne the full cost of the number of other Asia-Pacific econo- Internet circuit to the United States. mies including the Republic of Korea, As a result US ISPs can provide ac- Japan, Australia, India, China and cess to Internet sites around the world Hongkong SAR). Singaporean laws for their users without having to pay apply to web sites using the .sg do- for the costs. In January 1999 SingTel, main regardless of whether they are along with seven other Asian telecom physically located in the country. operators, signed a resolution encour- aging US ISPs to share the cost of the 3.3.3 Internet Protocol (IP) international Internet link.10 In May telephony 2000, the Singapore Minister of Com- munications and Information Technol- Prior to full liberalization of the tel- ogy urged a meeting of the Asia-Pacific ecommunication market in April 2000, Economic Cooperation (APEC) to sup- only SingTel could provide IP-based port equitable sharing of international telephony services as this was con- Internet links.11 A moral victory of sidered a voice service. The one ex- sorts was obtained in October 2000 ception was computer-to-computer

21 Singapore Case Study

Figure 3.2: Calling choices 3.3.4Content

SingTel overseas calling plans Internet content is regulated by the Singa- pore Broadcasting Au- Ç 2QHÃPLQXWHÃFDOOÃWRÃ86 thority (SBA) as part of 86ÇÃ-XO\Ã its responsibility for all broadcast media. SBA’s regulatory framework ,QWHU for the Internet is em- Ç QDWLRQDOà bodied in the Singapore 'LUHFWà Broadcasting Authority 'LDO Ç 9R,3 (Class License) Notifica- tion 1996.16 This license 3&SKRQH contains the regulatory requirements for both  9 H9RL] ISPs and Internet Con- tent Providers (ICPs). There is an automatic Source: ITU adapted from SingTel. licensing framework and no need to obtain prior approval from SBA. However, ISPs eventually need telephone calls between two Internet to register with SBA, after being users. With market liberalization, a granted a license by IDA and within new Internet-Based Voice and/or Data two weeks of operating their service. Service class license was created. Any ICPs do not need to register with SBA organization can offer Internet based unless their web pages are primarily voice or data services provided they set up to promote political or religious have a license and abide by a mini- causes. ISPs pay an annual license fee mum quality of service. At mid-Sep- ranging from S$ 100 (US$ 57.7) to S$ tember 2000, there were 1’000 (US$ 577), depending on the 70 companies that had been licensed type of service they are offering. to provide Internet-Based Voice Serv- Internet Access Service Providers ices. (IASPs) and non-localized Internet service resellers who have more than While many incumbent telecommuni- 500 user accounts pay an annual li- cation operators have been leery of cence fee of S$ 1’000 (US$ 577) while Internet-based telephone calls, non-localized Internet service resellers SingTel has launched a couple of IP with less than 500 user accounts and telephony services that are signifi- localized Internet service providers cantly cheaper than its normal inter- pay S$ 100 (US$ 57.7) a year. national tariff. eVoiz allows users to make a call from their PC to telephone The SBA’s content role is based on subscribers in selected countries. A maintaining community social values one-minute call to the US costs and racial and religious harmony in S$ 0.09 (US$ 0.05) compared to Singapore. Its objective is to have S$ 0.39 (US$ 0.23) per minute for In- minimal legislation and instead en- ternational Direct Dialling (IDD). courage industry self-regulation and SingTel estimates that eVoiz will add public education. The SBA is respon- ten million minutes a year of interna- sible for ensuring that content broad- tional traffic.14 SingTel’s V019 service, cast on the Internet follows the launched in August 2000, allows any Internet Code of Practice.17 The Code telephone user to make an interna- of Practice identifies what the com- tional call over IP-based networks by munity regards as offensive, namely dialling a special number. A one- pornography, violence, racism and minute VO19 call to the US costs religious slurs. Certain sections of the S$ 0.19 (US$ 0.11), almost half the class license refer to ICPs not being normal IDD charge.15 allowed to provide information that

22 3. Internet policy

encourages the use of gambling or since there is a limit to what domestic fortune telling. These sections apply legislation can achieve in the face of to the following categories/services: a borderless medium like the Internet. Audiotext, videotext, teletext, broad- Through organizing exhibitions, con- cast data services, and VAN compu- ducting talks for the public and work- ter on-line services. They do not apply ing with schools, libraries and to Internet Content Providers. community organizations, SBA strives to build awareness. SBA also aims to ICPs are liable for content that educate parents on the tools that are breaches the license restrictions men- available for them to better supervise tioned above. ISPs are not liable for their children’s use of the Internet. content accessed through their con- SBA works closely with a volunteer nection but are liable if they operate group called the Parents Advisory web sites for the public. SBA is con- Group for the Internet (PAGI, at cerned only with the provision of ma- www.pagi.org.sg), which was estab- terial to the public. Thus corporate lished in November 1999. PAGI pro- Internet access for business use is vides a support network for parents outside the scope of SBA’s regulations, to share their ideas and concerns on as is private communications (e.g. guiding their children to use the electronic mail and instant Internet in a positive way. The PAGI messaging). The scope of the license web site hosts an online discussion covers all web sites physically located forum for parents to exchange views, in Singapore, as well as content cre- ideas, and experiences on safe surf- ated in Singapore. The SBA receives ing and best practices. PAGI has con- around a dozen complaints every ducted workshops in various month. Once the SBA receives a com- languages to cater to the multilingual plaint, the content provider is in- community. These workshops also formed and typically takes the help parents themselves to use the necessary steps to make its web site Internet. conform with the regulations. For the most part, SBA’s Internet con- As a symbolic gesture initiated by the tent role is passive in that it mainly government to indicate its concern responds to complaints. Its preference over dissemination of pornography, is for the industry to be self-regulat- SBA obligates ISPs to block out 100 ing. The fact that Singapore has tried pornographic web sites. SBA has also to do something about controversial provided funding to ISPs for them to content has led to the incorrect im- provide family subscriptions. These pression that Internet use is restric- subscriptions are operated through tive in the country. The reality is quite proxy sites that prevent access to different, as official content control is pornographic and other controversial innocuous. On the other hand, the sites using commercial filtering serv- major efforts Singapore is making to ices such as CyberPatrol and develop content in local languages and SmartFilter.18 SBA also supports con- promote Singapore as a multilingual tent classification using the Platform Internet hub are to be applauded (see for Internet Content Selection (PICS) Box 3.2). system developed by the World Wide Web consortium. It urges content pro- 3.4Universal access viders in Singapore to support this effort by labelling their sites, as part Universal access takes on new mean- of industry self-regulation. ing for a country with near universal telephone service and among the Since the introduction of Internet con- highest home PC and Internet access tent regulation in 1996, SBA has been rates in the world. Although there is consulting with the community and not a precise measurement of home industry so that it can fine tune its telephone availability, evidence sug- policies to promote and facilitate the gests it is close to 100 per cent.19 growth of the Internet. SBA empha- Close to 60 per cent of the island’s sizes public education and awareness homes have a PC and 42 per cent have

23 Singapore Case Study

Figure 3.3: Whose homes are most connected?

Household PC and Internet penetration, 1999

+RXVHKROGÃ3&ÃSHQHWUDWLRQÃ +RXVHKROGÃ,QWHUQHWÃSHQHWUDWLRQÃ

Singapore 59% Singapore 42%

USA 54% USA 40%

Australia 47% Australia 22%

Japan 42% Japan 13%

Source: ITU adapted from IDA.

Internet access, the highest rates in Household Survey found that the main the world (see Figure 3.2). SingTel has reason homes did not have Internet provided all its residential telephone access was there was no perceived subscribers with a free Internet ac- need for it (47 per cent) compared to count. If one assumes that all of the only 16 per cent that found it too ex- homes with a PC also have a telephone pensive. Other reasons included not line, then 59 per cent of Singapore’s having the appropriate hardware (ten households can theoretically access per cent) and not knowing how to use the Internet for the price of a local the Internet (four per cent). Ten per telephone call. cent of respondents indicated that they were planning to get Internet The small size of the island coupled service soon. with widespread public Internet access at schools and community centres and In an effort to get more Singaporeans a scattering of cyber cafes suggests online, IDA announced a three-year that no one is very far from the S$ 25 million (US$ 14 million) pro- Internet if they need it. Therefore gram targeted at “low-income house- universal access is complete. Aware- holds, different ethnic groups and the ness of the Internet is also high; a late adopters of infocomm technol- 1998 survey found that over 90 per ogy.” 20 Projects include donation of cent of Singaporeans were aware of used computers with free Internet ac- the Internet. All the current dot-com cess and basic training to some 30’000 publicity—including buses and cabs low-income households as well as pro- displaying URLs—suggests that aware- viding free broadband access to Sin- ness of the Internet today is probably gapore One at community centres and close to 99 per cent. promoting Internet kiosks (see Box 3.1). Therefore problems with access to the Internet are not primarily A profile of the Singaporean home infrastructural or economic (the coun- Internet user reveals the same sort try is Asia’s second wealthiest after of Digital Divide that exists in other Japan) but more social and cultural. nations.21 There are more males This includes convincing people that (57 per cent), users tend to be young the Internet is relevant. For example, (the age group with the highest share the 1999 IDA Information Technology are those aged 20-29 while those over

24 3. Internet policy

Figure 3.4: Internet and language

,QWHUQHWÃXVHÃE\ÃODQJXDJHÃVSRNHQ Don’t use 1HYHUÃXVHÃ,QWHUQHWÃE\ÃODQJXDJH Use 100% 99.4% 100.0%

80%  61.9%     58.5% 60% 44.5%  40%

 20%   

0%  English Chinese Malay English & English or Chinese Malay Tamil Other English only only only Chinese Chinese

Note: The charts show the share of population and Internet use by language spoken rather than ethnic group. Source: ITU adapted from CABSAT/NETWATCH.

50 account for only five per cent) and Around 55 per cent of Singaporeans well-educated (over 60 per cent have who understand English and Chinese post-secondary education). What is are online compared to 38 per cent of striking is the breakdown of Internet those who are literate in either Chi- use by language; those who do not nese or English but not both. Most re- speak English well have a much lower markably, there are hardly any level of usage. For example almost half Internet users amongst those who of Singaporean adults that are liter- speak only Chinese or Malay. The gov- ate in English are on-line compared ernment is working to overcome these to around one third of those that do linguistic barriers by promoting the de- not (see Figure 3.3). It also pays to velopment of content in different lan- be literate in more than one language. guages (see Box 3.2).

Box 3.1: Kiosking Singapore

One has to look hard to find cyber cafes in Singa- their on-line pur-chases. The I-One Net portal hangs pore since there is already a high level of Internet off of the Singapore One broadband network and access from work, schools and homes. According although it is accessible to anyone with Internet to one source, only two per cent of Singaporeans access, the kiosks help to push I-One Net’s brand use cyber cafes to access the Internet. This has name. In addition to on-line advertising and trans- not deterred i-One Net International, a Singaporean action fees, I-One Net also makes money from ‘off- media company, from installing Internet kiosks line’ advertising by allowing merchants to display across the island to reach out to the unwired. By advertisements on the kiosks. I-One Net is prepar- July 1999, they had rolled out around 500 public ing a second generation of kiosks that will contain kiosks along the main retail and tourist area of Or- new features such as video-cams at department chard Road as well as shopping centres, govern- stores, larger monitors and on-line chatting. Be- ment buildings, community centres and schools. The cause Singapore is so wired, I-One Net is taking its kiosks are linked to I-One Net’s main portal that public access experience abroad. In China, I-One provides local information such as where to shop Net is developing a number of public Internet ac- and eat. Kiosk users can also purchase items over cess franchises in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the Internet using credit and bank cards to pay for Beijing.

25 Singapore Case Study

Box 3.2: Multilingual Singapore

Widespread use of English in the educational, quarter million, TISC’s efforts are reaching the health, government and corporate business sector 65 million Tamil speakers around the world. Singa- has contributed to Singapore’s high Internet diffu- pore is also hosting the secretariat for a world body sion since most Internet content is in English. How- that is promoting the development and use of Tamil ever, the majority of the island’s citizens speak other on the Internet. The International Forum for Infor- languages at home. The government is making mation Technology in Tamil (INFITT) is made up of strong efforts to promote content in local languages. Tamil speakers from Australia, India, Malaysia, Sin- These include Chinese, Malay and Tamil Internet gapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and the US. INFITT initiatives. will develop standards and help develop the Tamil Internet. It will also serve as a coordinating body The National Chinese Internet Programme (NCIP) for worldwide efforts in Tamil content creation, es- provides hands-on training for Chinese Internet and pecially for educational use. According to one gov- exhibitions to raise awareness of Chinese Internet. ernment official, “promoting and popularizing the NCIP has developed a Chinese portal (Chinese role of the Tamil Internet to non-English speaking WebTop or Hua Zong Wang). The potential of tap- Tamil Singaporeans will further IDA’s aim of nar- ping into the huge Chinese-speaking market in Asia rowing the digital divide.” 23 is also driving private initiatives to develop con- tent. Singapore Press Holding’s online version of The Malay Internet Steering Committee (MISC) was its Chinese-language newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao, established in May 2000 to promote the develop- claims to be the number one Chinese portal in South ment and use of ICT among the Malay community. East Asia. It hosts over 2000 home pages and av- The MISC is supported by a Panel of Advisors, com- erages between one-two million hits a day, with 70 prising experts in culture, language, technology and per cent coming from mainland China. commerce. Formed under the auspices of IDA, the committee’s role is to advise IDA and MCIT in the The Tamil Internet Steering Committee (TISC) was areas of developing local Malay Internet content established in April 2000 under the auspices of IDA, and culture-based programs, the promotion of e- to act as Singapore’s focal group in the develop- commerce and Malay Internet usage; and trans- ment of Tamil Internet.22 It organized one of the forming Singapore into a global multilingual Internet largest conferences on the Tamil Internet in Singa- hub. The MISC will also facilitate the bringing to- pore in July 2000 with some 20’000 visitors. Al- gether of partners in content creation and public though Singapore’s Tamil population is less than a education projects.

1 Internet and data services are growing and are now the second largest source of SingTel’s revenue. Commenting on its June 2000 quarterly results, SingTel notes: “Revenue from Public Data & Private Network increased by 51.1 per cent to S$243 million as Internet usage within and out of Singapore continued to surge. This segment, which includes leased circuits and data services, has become the Group’s second largest revenue contributor at 19.8 per cent, up from 13.4 per cent a year ago.” SingTel. “The SingTel Group’s unaudited results for the quarter ended 30 June 2000.” Press Release. 28 July 2000.

26 3. Internet policy

2 A list of SingTel’s Internet services can be found at: http://home.singtel.com/about/eactivities/eactivities.asp. 3 SingTel. “Free Internet for every SingTel home and business.” Press Release. 12 December 1999. 4 For example it has offered wholesale prices for its ADSL service to other ISPs. See SingTel. “SingTel to offer broadband access service to ISPs.” Press Release. 7 June 2000. 5 Free Internet access generally has limited features. However, SingTel’s free service provides an 8MB e-mail account and 12MB of user storage. 6 However, after 30 hours of use, New Zealand would be the cheapest country in the region for home Internet access since residential users do not pay for local telephone calls. 7 There are arguments about whether ADSL or cable modem is better. One functional advantage of ADSL is that there is no need for a second telephone line since you can talk and surf at the same time. Cable modems can theoretically send out data at 128Kbps and download it at 1.5Mbps while ADSL speed in Singapore is 512Kbps each way. However actual speed is dependent on backbone bandwidth and in the case of cable, how many users are on the same connection. Complaints about service have led IDA to look into quality of service issues for broadband networks. See IDA. “IDA’S Response To Public Feedback on SCV Cable Modem.” Press Release. 13 April 2000. 8 The list of services that can be provided under an SBO (Individual) licence include International Simple Resale, Internet Access Services, Internet Exchange Services, Virtual Private Network and Managed Data Network Service. 9 IDA. The Regulatory Environment for the Provision of Public Internet Access and Internet-Related Services In Singapore. 3 February 2000. 10 SingTel. “Asia Pacific Carriers Campaign for the US to Share Cost of International Internet Link.” Press Release. 26 January 1999. 11 Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. “Singapore Calls for an End to Unfair International Charging Practices for Internet Services.” Press Release. 26 May 2000. http://www.mcit.gov.sg/p_00_05_26.html. 12 ITU. “Major Decisions reached at World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly.” Press Release. 6 October 2000. http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press/releases/2000/22.html. 13 For example, .com is for commercial companies registered with the Registry of Companies and Businesses, .org for not profit organizations registered with the Registry of Societies, .gov is for members of the Singaporean government and.edu for educational organizations registered with the Ministry of Educations. See http://www.nic.net.sg/sgdom.html. 14 SingTel. “SingTel introduces eVoiz, a PC to Phone service.” Press Release. 6 March 2000. 15 SingTel acknowledges that the quality of IP-based calls is inferior but notes “While the V019 call quality may be somewhat below our 013 BudgetCall service, our target customers will still find it acceptable and very much value-for-money.” SingTel. “Say hello to easy and cheap international calls with V019.” Press Release. 30 July 2000. 16 http://www.sba.gov.sg/work/sba/internet.nsf/pages/Doc21. 17 http://www.sba.gov.sg/work/sba/internet.nsf/pages/code. 18 http://www.surfcontrol.com/index.html and http://www.smartfilter.com. 19 One of the reasons that there is no official statistic on home telephone ownership is that it is assumed everyone has one. For example SingTel notes: “Almost all Singapore homes have basic telephone services and about 12 per cent of households have more than one DEL.” SingTel. Full Financial Report. 1996/1997. 20 See “Helping Singaporeans Go Online”. IDA Press Release. 1 March 2000. Available on the IDA web site at www.ida.gov.sg. 21 1999 IT Household Survey. 22 http://www.singtisc.org. 23 “Tamil Community on the Web.” Singapore Wave (IDA publication). 15 September 2000.

27 Singapore Case Study

4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

4.1 Government One notable application is Government eBusiness (GeBiz) , launched in June 2000. GeBiz is volved with Information and Commu- an on-line portal for the government’s nications Technology (ICT) in three business-to-business dealings. The ways. One is as a user in its own right. Ministry of Finance intends to trans- The second is as a provider of elec- fer all procurement processes that can tronic government services to the pub- be put online to GeBiz. The system lic. The third is as a promoter of integrates financial and procurement ICT—or as the Singapore government systems of government ministries and likes to call it, infocommunications— agencies, allowing users to browse on the island. supplier catalogues and purchase products. It also displays procurement 4.1.1 Government as user requirements of different government The Singapore government was an ministries and agencies for potential early adopter of ICT. In 1981, it intro- suppliers. duced a Civil Service Computerization Program to train all public employees 4.1.2 Government as provider in the use of Information Technology. The government is actively developing In 1998, the Ministry of Defence and promoting electronic services de- launched the world’s first Internet- livery with the objective of creating an based government procurement sys- e-based society. All ministries have a tem. Today the Singaporean web presence, integrated through the government is recognized as one of government’s central portal (www.gov.sg) the most computerized in the world. which averages over three million hits per Singapore’s some 30’000 public serv- quarter. As of June 2000, about 450 pub- ants use the government e-mail sys- lic services were available online. Within tem while the government Intranet the next three years, all government over- attracts 50 million hits a year. the-counter procedures should be online. One example of a successful application is the online sub- mission of in- come tax forms. So far, about one quarter of all tax returns have been filed on-line through the eFiling service pro- vided by the Inland Revenue Authority. One incentive has been allowing a one-week ex- tension for tax forms filed online.

28 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

One of the government’s most signifi- must be able to work at a similar speed cant projects is eCitizen (www. or be left behind.” ecitizen.gov.sg). The aim is to create a single portal providing a plethora of One of the success factors of government services. The eCitizen eGovernment initiatives is the strong portal is a window to public services. coordination between ministries and Services are organized according to the key leadership roles of the Minis- life events, rather than by depart- try of Finance and IDA. The Ministry ments or agencies. As citizens travel of Finance has the financial muscle to down the “road of life,” they can stop secure top management commitment at “buildings” that line the road. The across government agencies and min- buildings represent topics such as istries while IDA assists with techni- family, housing, health and education. cal support. Each topic integrates information from various government agencies. For 4.1.3 Government as promoter example, the “Family” topic, has in- formation on “Care for the Elderly” The government has historically from the Ministry of Health, while in- played an active role in economic plan- formation on “Getting Married” comes ning and investment in several sec- from the Ministry of Community De- tors, including IT. The success of this velopment. A user could find out how central control has been due in large much a marriage license costs, where part to a unique policy, which attracts to file the application and even sub- and retains outstanding civil servants. mit it online. eCitizen was launched in In the 1980s, the government turned April 1999, offering 16 service pack- its attention to IT, beginning with the ages and 108 electronic services. The 1981 Civil Service Computerization eCitizen portal aims to offer more than Program. In 1986, a Committee on 60 service packages and more than National Computerization was formed 200 services by April 2001. to create a national IT plan. In 1992, the IT2000 plan was published, call- The design of eCitizen allows each ing for the construction of a broadband agency to keep its own web site but infrastructure; common network serv- to display the content by function. The ices (such as directories, security, au- new approach is accomplished by in- thentication, and billing); experiments tegrating information and services with applications; forging international from various government agencies. strategic alliances with industry lead- This integrated approach requires gov- ers in Japan, Europe and the US; and ernment agencies to adopt customer establishing a policy and legal frame- orientation and strong coordination work on issues like data protection, efforts. privacy, copyright and intellectual property rights, and the admissibility The Singaporean government will of computer-imaged documents in spend S$ 1.5 billion (US$ 0.86 billion) court.1 In 1997, the Ministry of Edu- on e-Government related programs in cation created an ambitious five-year the next three years. It is adopting a plan for IT-based education (see sec- flexible approach seen in its readiness tion 4.3). to challenge traditional methods of system procurement and implemen- A number of government or govern- tation and assumptions of delivering ment-linked organizations were also public services on private sector in- established in the IT area: frastructure and through public-pri- vate sector collaboration. A portion of · The National Computer Board this fund will be set aside to develop (NCB), playing the key role in programs to give civil servants in- strategic planning; depth understanding of how ICT tools impact the country’s economic and · 1-Net, a consortium of ISPs and social situation. Dr. Tan adds, “When the government to build and op- the world today is marching to erate Singapore ONE, the island’s Internet speed, our public servants ATM backbone; and

29 Singapore Case Study

· The Economic Development offer subsidies in technologies and Board, charged with attracting ventures they wish to advance. Fig- capital and brainpower. ure 4.1 outlines the complex equity relationships government has with vir- With the completion of the IT2000 tually all important IT organizations. plan, government leadership in IT has accelerated. In December 1999, the One might expect this deep govern- NCB and the Telecommunication Au- ment involvement in planning, selec- thority of Singapore (TAS) merged, tion of technology, granting of forming the Infocomm Development incentives and direct investment to Authority (IDA), a statutory board result in inefficient resource allocation under the Ministry of Communications and corruption. While the allocation and Information Technology. Next, the of resources has not been perfect5 , government accelerated the introduc- there is no denying that Singapore has tion of full market competition in tel- made very impressive strides in IT and ecommunications by two years, from other sectors of the economy. This is 1 April 2002 to 1 April 2000, and lifted confirmed by various surveys pitting foreign equity limits for all public tel- Singapore against other countries (see ecommunications licenses. Between Table 4.1). Government intervention 1994 and 1999, the government in the market has been successful budget for communication and IT serv- because it has been accompanied by ices grew from S$ 44.9 million a unique civil service policy, coupled (US$ 25.9 million) (0.5 per cent of the with the consensus spirit of budget) to S$ 458 million Singaporean society. (US$ 264 million) (3.3 per cent of the budget).2 It also invested more than The government recruits the best and S$ five billion (US$ 2.9 billion) over the brightest, pays them well, and the same period in ICT (see Fig- offers performance-based incentives. ure 4.1). IDA is now working on a The mission of the Public Service Di- series of Infocomm Technology vision of the Office of the Prime Min- Roadmaps in consultation with indus- ister is to “build a first-class public try and academia.3 The first of these service for a successful and vibrant reports was published in July 2000.4 Singapore,” and their motto is “peo- ple our pride, service our pledge, and In addition to planning, government integrity our core.” 6 Good students agencies and government-linked cor- are attracted initially through a pro- porations make direct investments and gram of university scholarships.7 Gov-

Figure 4.1: Putting the money where the mouth is

Singapore government expenditure and investment for ICT, 1995-1999, S$ millions

*RYHUQPHQWÃ,&7ÃH[SHQGLWXUHÃ6ÇÃP *RYHUQPHQWÃ,&7ÃLQYHVWPHQWÃ6ÇÃP S$500 4% $S2’000 18% S$450 As % of total 3% S$400 16% S$350 3% $S1’500 14% 12% S$300 2% S$250 10% $S1’000 S$200 2% 8% S$150 1% 6% S$100 $S500 1% 4% S$50 2% S$0 0% $S0 0% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Source: ITU adapted from Singapore Department of Statistics.

30 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

Table 4.1: Ranking Singapore

Singapore's rank in selected international surveys, 2000

6XUYH\Ã 6LQJDSRUHÃ5DQNLQJÃ 5HPDUNVÃ *OREDOÃ&RPSHWLWLYHQHVVÃ ÃRXWÃRIÃÃ :RUOGÃ(FRQRPLFÃ)RUXPÃVWXG\ÃWKDWÃPHDVXUHÃWKHÃ 5HSRUWÃ IDFWRUVÃWKDWÃFRQWULEXWHÃWRÃWKHÃIXWXUHÃJURZWKÃRIÃDQÃ HFRQRP\Ã HEXVLQHVVUHDGLQHVVÃÃ ÃRXWÃRIÃÃ (FRQRPLVWÃ,QWHOOLJHQFHÃ8QLWÃUDQNLQJVÃPHDVXULQJÃWKHÃ Ã KLJKHVWÃUDQNHGÃ UHODWLYHÃSUHSDUHGQHVVÃRIÃWKHÃZRUOG VÃPDLQÃPDUNHWVÃ $VLD3DFLILFÃFRXQWU\ Ã IRUÃWKHÃHEXVLQHVVÃHUDÃ ,QIRUPDWLRQÃ6RFLHW\Ã ÃRXWÃRIÃÃ :RUOGÃ7LPHV,'&ÃUDQNLQJÃE\ÃZKLFKÃQDWLRQVÃDUHÃ ,QGH[ÃÃ PHDVXUHGÃDFFRUGLQJÃWRÃWKHLUÃDELOLW\ÃWRÃDFFHVVÃDQGÃ DEVRUEÃLQIRUPDWLRQÃDQGÃLQIRUPDWLRQÃWHFKQRORJ\Ã :RUOGÃ&RPSHWLWLYHQHVVÃ ÃRXWÃRIÃÃ ,QWHUQDWLRQDOÃ,QVWLWXWHÃIRUÃ0DQDJHPHQWÃ 6FRUHERDUGÃÃ 'HYHORSPHQWÃ ,0' ÃVWXG\ÃRQÃWKHÃFRPSHWLWLYHQHVVÃ RIÃQDWLRQVÃLWÃDVVHVVHVÃDQGÃUDQNVÃKRZÃDÃQDWLRQ¶VÃ HQYLURQPHQWÃVXVWDLQVÃWKHÃFRPSHWLWLYHQHVVÃRIÃLWVÃ ILUPVÃ

Source: ITU adapted from WEF, EIU, World Times and IMD.

ernment salaries are reviewed annu- 4.2.1 Ministry of Health ally to ensure that they are competi- Utilization of information technology tive with the private sector. Civil is pervasive at the Ministry of Health servants receive bonuses when the (MOH).9 There is Internet access from economy does well, and innovation every desktop at the headquarters. and excellence are encouraged by sig- Polyclinics and hospitals are connected nificant bonuses based on individual to the Internet. The Ministry web site accomplishment. There is also the provides a wealth of information rang- Enterprise Challenge, a S$ 10 million ing from listings of all medical practi- (US$ 5.77 million) fund for innovative tioners on the island to links to the proposals that have the potential to government StoreFront where health- create new value or significant im- related publications are sold online. provements to the delivery of public One hospital has a service called ‘Ask service. Finally, lifelong learning is a a Nurse’ whereby the public can re- priority with a variety of training pro- grams and a program to identify and develop leadership. The net result is that civil service positions are pres- Table 4.2: Singapore's tigious and sought after. Thus, gov- health infrastructure ernment planning and investment in Number of health facilities and IT (and other areas) is conducted by medical personnel, 1999 well qualified, motivated, and corrup- tion-free civil servants making “indus- 8 trial quality” decisions. Hospitals/Specialised Centres 26 Hospital Beds 11’742 4.2 Health Family Health Service Clinics 18 Singapore’s health sector has been Public Sector Dental Clinics 205 making steady progress in the use Doctors 5’325 of IT. . Singaporean hospitals are Dentists 942 considered to be the best in the re- Nurses/Midwives 15’947 gion. The health sector approach to Pharmacists 1’043 IT remains pragmatic, though, and IT is adopted once applications have been tried and shown to have real Source: Singapore Ministry of Health. benefits.

31 Singapore Case Study

ceive medical consultation via asking Self-Help: Consumers are able to questions online. The national Health help themselves by getting medical Education Department also offers a information on the Internet. service called ‘Ask an Expert’ where users can send queries about health Research: The Internet has provided concerns. a wealth of information for the medi- cal community. It has facilitated ac- The MOH also has various web-ena- cess to information, which would not bled applications: otherwise be so easily available with- out the Internet. Continuing Medical Education10 This project, implemented in collabo- Education: Consumers are becoming ration with the Singapore Medical more knowledgeable. The patient does Council, enables doctors to earn not simply accept doctors’ explana- points based on their participation at tions; some of them are even ques- medical seminars, reading journals, tioning doctors’ decisions. However, attending conferences, etc. in order this has introduced another problem. to maintain their on-going certifica- The doctor is not seen as the sole au- tion. thority. People can be misled by infor- mation they encounter over the School Health Screening Pro- Internet, which may lead to under- gram11 treatment, mistreatment or self-treat- This system screens students in pri- ment, all of which may have negative mary and secondary schools. Upon repercussions for the patient. entry into the school system for the first time, every child is registered in IT at your Fingertips: The Internet a database. An electronic notification has allowed doctors and nurses to is automatically sent to students’ easily grasp technology. The simplic- schools prior to immunization due ity and ease of use of the Internet has dates. Medical-related information is allowed information technology to be tracked for each student and can be easily integrated in the workplace. downloaded to the school from the MOH database. 4.2.3 E-Commerce There are no regulations preventing A similar system, the Elderly Screen- drugs from being sold over the ing Program, is currently underway for Internet, which the public sees as an those 55 years and older. Over a pe- attractive opportunity since it is more riod of three years, 380’000 people convenient and cheaper to buy medi- will been screened. They are tested cine online in comparison to many for cholesterol, glucose, hypertension retail outlets (some add a 20 per cent and other symptoms that affect the premium). Scepticism [?] elderly. Referral letters are automati- cally generated, indicating actions to Singapore takes a very practical ap- be taken for a particular patient. proach to health care applications and has thus far been sceptical about the eCitizen concrete benefits of trendy applica- The MOH is currently working to de- tions such as e-procurement and velop service packages that can be telemedicine. Some Singaporean delivered over the government’s e- health personnel questions whether e- Citizen portal. There are currently four procurement dramatically reduces services available: elderly care, hos- costs. Although there are estimates pital services, dental care and healthy of savings between 20-30 per cent, it lifestyles. seems that some 60 per cent actually result from an improvement of inter- 4.2.2 Impact of the Internet on nal processes. Regarding the workplace telemedicine, there is a pilot project The Internet is viewed as having a using an ISDN connection to connect major impact on both the health com- a hospital to a polyclinic for transfer- munity and users: ring x-rays. However, demand has

32 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

been low. In a small place like Singa- and secondary schools and the use of pore, it is far cheaper for the doctor IT in the curriculum. to go directly where he/she is needed than to use telemedicine to transfer 4.3.1 Higher Education an x-ray. Another telemedicine appli- cation involves a private Singaporean Universities in Singapore have a long, hospital and Johns Hopkins Hospital successful history of Internet connec- in the U.S. It uses video-conferencing tivity and application. They are active to exchange real-time medical data participants in international network- and consultation. Patients pay for it based research, and have many ex- on an as-needed basis. Singaporean cellent teaching programs. The latter doctors do not favourably view produce many of Singapore’s network- Telemedicine as a means for diagno- ing professionals and the government sis. X-rays are better viewed in per- and institutions of higher education son as opposed to being digitally work together to anticipate and sup- viewed on a screen. Online resolution ply IT manpower. levels have not yet reached those of film. The colour of a lump, for exam- 4.3.1.1University Connectivity ple, cannot be as clearly viewed on a screen. As in many nations, the university community pioneered computer net- 4.3 Education working in Singapore. The Computer Centre of the National University of Strolling around the campus of the Singapore12 (NUS) had a BITNET con- National University of Singapore nection in 1987. In 1990, they estab- (NUS), one notices many students lished an IP network, TechNet, with with portable computers plugged into Gopher and WAIS servers. NUS es- jacks by tables in common areas. This tablished a web site in 1993. In 1995, is an indication that the Internet is well TechNet was spun off, forming a com- established in higher education. The mercial Internet service provider, Pa- universities are connected and make cific Internet.13 After TechNet was good use of the Internet in teaching sold, the NUS Internet Research and and research. While several nations Development Unit (IRDU) used the can make similar claims for higher funds for a variety of research and de- education, what sets Singapore apart velopment projects. In 1997, IRDU is its level of connectivity of primary (now the Centre for Internet Re-

Table 4.3: Singapore at school

Number of educational institutions, students and teachers, 1999

,QVWLWXWLRQV 6WXGHQWV 7HDFKHUV

1XPEHU Total 384 622,372 31,318 Primary Schools 199 300,153 12,132 Secondary Schools 152 173,007 9,210 Pre-University 16 25,032 1,841 Institute of Technical Education1 10 16,390 1,449 Polytechnics 4 57,126 3,422 National Institute of Education 1 3,317 511 Universities 2 47,347 2,753

Note: Figures for primary, secondary and pre-university exclude private schools. Figures for institutions of higher learning include part-time students and teachers. 1 Refer to full-time teaching staff and students. Source: Statistics Singapore.

33 Singapore Case Study

search)14 joined forces with Kent Ridge nus.edu.sg). The Centre provides Digital Labs,15 and the Network Tech- informatics service to the global biol- nology Research Centre16 of Nanyang ogy community, teaches and conducts Technological University17 (NTU) to research. In addition to these tradi- form SingAREN, the Singapore Ad- tional functions, it is encouraged to vanced Research and Education Net- produce commercial spin-offs. To date, work.18 SingAREN is a national they have spun off BioInformatrix, Kris initiative to create a high-speed net- Technology and Bioinformatics Tech- work to support R&D and advanced nology Group, and several others are technology development. It serves being developed. The Director of the users from academia, research organi- Centre, Tan Tin Wee, was also a zations and industry. founder and early leader of TechNet. He remains active in both the network- SingAREN connects 30 higher educa- ing and biological research communi- tion and research institutions within ties, and feels increasing emphasis on Singapore.19 There are 2 Mb/s inter- the commercialization of research at national links to Japan, Korea and the university. Malaysia and a 15 Mb/s link to the National Science Foundation’s Science 4.3.1.2Meeting Singapore’s Man- Technology and Research Transit Ac- power Needs cess Point (STAR TAP) in the United States.20 Through STAR TAP, the Sin- Over 20 universities, polytechnics, and gapore research and education com- other higher education institutions munity has access to Internet 2 and offer degrees in more than 75 IT pro- other research networks in the US, grams ranging from practical skills to Canada and Europe. The Asian links research. The quantity and quality of tie them into the Asia Pacific Academic these programs reflects the Network.21 Singaporean commitment to IT. While the universities are autonomous, the As usual in Singapore, SingAREN has IDA monitors and plans IT manpower government and commercial ties. requirements via a biennial survey. SingAREN is funded by the NSTB and The latest survey, conducted during the IDA. It is also connected to Sin- the second half of 1999 found that gapore ONE, so new technologies and 52 per cent of IT employees have a services can be developed and tested bachelor’s degree, 14 per cent a mas- in an experimental environment then ters, and 0.2 per cent a doctorate. deployed for commercially. SingAREN About 30 per cent have polytechnic is also responsible for supporting Sin- diplomas. The number of IT jobs is ex- gapore ONE in using new broadband pected to grow at a rate of 10-12 per technology and protocols. The com- cent, from 92’800 at the end of 1999 mercial relationship is captured in the to 114’000 by the end of 2001. The SingAREN acceptable use policy, which greatest growth is expected in e-com- states: merce (47 per cent) and Internet de- velopment (24 per cent), Figure 4.3, SingAREN is mainly intended for col- left. The survey also showed that laborative research projects requiring CEOs planned to increasingly meet high speed communication links be- training demands using Web and com- tween local universities/research in- puter-based instruction (see Fig- stitutes/centres, and their counterpart ure 4.3, right). organisations overseas. However, development oriented projects, which A National Manpower Council (NMC) have high relevance e.g. developing was formed last year to do integrated enabling technologies for Singapore manpower planning for the ONE are also strongly encouraged.22 economy.23 At their inaugural meet- ing, the NMC set new targets for uni- The close ties between the academic versities and polytechnics. For and commercial communities are fur- example, NUS and NTU were advised ther illustrated by the experience of to expand their intakes of Engineer- the Bioinformatics Centre (www.bic. ing and Computer Science students for

34 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

Figure 4.2: ICT manpower needs and training

ICT manpower categories with expected biggest growth 1999-2001, and Utilization levels of training methods

Consultancy/Business 2.2 13% Web-Based Analysis 4.5 Software Research & 14% Development Computer- 2.3 Based 4.2 Specialist Support 15% Services 3.9 Classroom Internet Development 24% 4.1

1999 Current Utilization Level e-commerce 47% 2001 Excpected Utilization Level

Note: In the right chart, 1 = no utilization, 10 = very high utilization. Source: IDA 1999 Infocomm Manpower and Skills Survey.

the academic year 2000/01 by about one of the most advanced nations in four per cent. The NMC also initiated the world with respect to computer a variety of IT training and career con- availability and training at the primary version programs, and training incen- through junior college levels (see Fig- tive programs for industry. ure 4.3).26

The universities have also acted on The Ministry of Education (MOE)27 has their own. Notably, there are new de- had an interest in IT since 1980s when gree programs in e-commerce. NUS they installed administrative systems offers an e-commerce specialization in the schools. By 1994 there were in their MBA program, and starting roughly ten computers per school and with the July 2000 term, their MBA some were beginning to connect to the core curriculum was redesigned to in- Internet. In 1996, 100 computers corporate e-business concepts and were put in labs in each primary strategies. The Faculty of Business and school, some of the Junior Colleges School of Computing also offers a joint were networked, software tools were undergraduate program in e-com- developed for students and teachers, merce and will offer an MS in e-busi- and pilot tests were run with note- ness in July 2000.24 books and LANs and the use of the Internet in teaching in a few schools. 4.3.2 Pre-university Education These preliminary, piecemeal efforts – the Master Plan provided background experience and laid the groundwork for developing an Trained and demanding users are a integrated Master Plan. major determinant of Internet adop- tion and diffusion in a nation.25 While Singapore’s IT2000 plan called for the networking technicians build the net- establishment of a broadband back- work and applications, their work must bone and availability of access for be preceded by a perceived need, by every Singaporean. If the people were demand pull from users who under- trained Internet users, Singapore stand what the Internet can do and would be an attractive test bed for are capable of using it. As we have developers of broadband applications. seen, Singapore is doing well with re- The plan also anticipated widespread spect to educating IT professionals, use of the Internet for interaction be- and, as we see in this section, it is tween citizens and the government,

35 Singapore Case Study

Figure 4.3: Whose schools are most wired?

Number of students per computer, data released November 1999

Canada 11 6WXGHQW Canada 9 6WXGHQW FRPSXWHUÃUDWLRÃ FRPSXWHUÃUDWLRÃ Finland 16 LQÃSULPDU\Ã New Zealand 10 LQÃVHFRQGDU\Ã VFKRROV VFKRROV Singapore 17 Denmark 12

New Zealand 20 Singapore 12

Hongkong SAR 53 Japan 21

Japan 59 Taiwan-China 35

Taiwan-China 74 Hongkong SAR 36

Note: Based on 26 participating economies. Source: Singapore Ministry of Education.

again requiring an Internet-savvy 4.3.2.1Physical and technological citizen. Furthermore, IT skills were infrastructure seen as necessary for productivity in a global information economy, and The MOE decided to move away from it was felt that the utilization of IT general purpose computer labs and to could improve education in general. emphasize networking and classroom Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong connectivity. Equipment has been in- summed up these premises by stat- stalled in phases, beginning with ing “Computers are changing the way 22 schools in 1997. By the end we work and the way we live . . . We of 2000, all schools will be on the will use IT to encourage students to Internet with a two or five Mbps learn more independently, to learn links.29 There will be a networked com- actively,” and, in April, 1997, the puter for every five students within MOE announced a five-year, S$ two secondary schools and junior colleges. billion (US$ 1.15 billion) Master Plan At the primary level, the ratio is one for IT in Education.28 computer for every 6.6 pupils.The goal is to reach a computer per two stu- The Master Plan covers primary and dents by the end of 2002 for schools, secondary schools and junior col- which are more advanced in the use leges. Its goals are access to an IT- of IT. There is also an LCD projector enriched school environment for in every classroom for common view- every child, improved linkages be- ing of local and remote material. Each tween schools and the rest of the school will also have a digital camera, world, innovation in education, en- video editing suite, scanner, and a hanced creative thinking, lifelong science kit with transducers and mo- learning and social responsibility, and tors and other effectors for control excellence and efficiency in educa- systems. Equipment upgrades and tion administration. Four general maintenance are budgeted for, and a steps were to be taken to achieve full time technology assistant is as- these goals: providing physical and signed to each school. technological infrastructure, devel- opment of learning resources, cur- All teachers are provided with email riculum revision and assessment, accounts and the Ministry has ar- and teacher development. ranged with ISPs to offer low-cost e-

36 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

mail accounts to pupils at all educational 4.3.2.3Learning resources levels. Computer purchase is also sub- sidized for teachers. MOE will pay 20 The Master Plan allocates S$ 100’000 per cent of the cost of a desktop com- (US$ 57’653) to each school for the puter or 40 per cent of the cost of a purchase of software and on-line portable.30 This offer covers computers, learning resources. MOE has a staff modems, printers, and Microsoft Office. that evaluates and recommends soft- There is also the Edumall, an intranet ware and web sites that are relevant for teachers with educational software to the curricula. Schools have au- libraries and support for interest groups tonomy to decide what material they and the interchange of experience. want to use, and the MOE has begun training teachers in the evaluation and 4.3.2.2Curriculum development and selection of software. MOE also nego- assessment tiates publisher discounts and has es- tablished digital media repositories, The entire curriculum is being revised accessible by both students and teach- to use technology effectively. It will ers. The Educational Software Pro- focus on mastering concepts and curement Scheme allows schools and skills, active and independent learn- teachers to purchase software from ing and problem solving, and critical authorized companies at a substan- thinking and communication, reduc- tial discount.32 ing the time spent on acquiring fac- tual knowledge. The emphasis will In addition to purchasing software shift from receiving information to packages, MOE will develop and co- finding and managing it. Cutting rote publish software which is needed but material will save 10-30% of the time not commercially available. For exam- in the various curricula. The time ple, programs dealing with saved will be used for different topics Singaporean topics such as history or and emphasis and for the teaching of programs in the Malay or Tamil lan- new material. IT-based instruction will guages must often be developed from increase from about 10-15% of the scratch. MOE is cooperating with IDA time today to 30% by the end of 2002. and the Economic Development Board of Singapore in funding these efforts, This curriculum reform has been influ- and they are also training a pool of enced by developments in the US, Is- educational software development rael and other nations. There will be professionals. awards for innovation in educational technology. For example, students are 4.3.2.4Teacher development being sent into the field with portable computers, and assigned to create web Hardware and software cannot be in- sites, demonstrating what they learned tegrated into the curriculum without upon return. Singaporeans are also the support of a trained faculty. There active in the Think Quest competition are approximately 25’000 teachers in in which student teams develop cur- Singapore and all will have received riculum.31 Singapore ranks second to core training by the end of 2000. This the US in participation and numbers entails between 30-50 hours of for- of finalists and winners. mal training with access to support personnel afterwards. Primary school While current modes of assessment teachers receive general training at remain relevant, MOE feels IT can fa- their schools and secondary teachers cilitate assessment of pupil competen- also receive discipline specific train- cies across more than one subject area ing. Training is provided by MOE per- and in several skills. Such assess- sonnel and experienced teachers. ments could include project work, Newly graduated teachers are being simulation software to assess pupils’ prepared for the new curriculum and ability to formulate and test hypoth- the use of IT. eses and their innovativeness, and self-assessment software for pupils to The MOE experience is that perhaps monitor their own learning. 20 per cent of the teachers are some-

37 Singapore Case Study

what reluctant in the face of this train- While university programs are out- ing and curriculum change. However, standing, Singapore’s primary-JC pro- MOE is confident that all will be won gram is unique. By 2002, there will over in time, and that students will be a 2:1 pupil-computer ratio in IT add pressure by expecting IT to be a advanced schools, every classroom in significant part of the school experi- the nation will be connected to the ence. Internet and the high-speed Singapore ONE backbone, all teachers will have 4.3.3 Conclusion been trained to use IT and the Internet, all teachers and students Singaporean universities are among above 3rd grade will have email ac- the most connected in the world. Their counts, and IT will be introduced in IT training programs are expanding in all subjects, and used in thirty per- an effort to keep up with manpower cent of curriculum time. demand and they have close ties to industry, government, and the inter- We stand to learn by watching this national IT research community. experiment. By the time they leave

Box 4.1: Future schools: Radin Mas Primary School33

From afar, Radin Mas gives no indication that it might Students are using Apple Macintosh computers and be one of the most wired primary schools in the world. Crayola Art as well as Kids’ Studio software to cre- Set amidst tropical vegetation in a middle class sec- ate “Digital Art.” This includes using ethnic motifs tion of Singapore, it looks a bit like a military bar- and themes such as copying Chinese calligraphy or racks, long and sprawling. However, once a classroom adding batik backgrounds to black and white Picasso is entered, you are in the school of the future. Com- backgrounds. Digital Chinese painting. These im- puters proliferate like mushrooms. One room is full aginative creations have won several awards. of around two dozen transparent iMacs. Another is filled with computers connected to midi-keyboards. Students are learning music through keyboards con- Yet another is full of kids painstakingly recreating nected to computers. They can add different sounds Chinese calligraphy on computer screens. What is the to existing music while viewing the musical score on story behind all these computers? the computer monitor.

Radin Mas—named after the daughter of a Javanese Other applications include e-cards designed by chil- Lord, it means Golden Princess in Malay—started in dren (e.g., Mother’s day, Thank you, etc.), a ‘Postkid’ 1926 and moved to its present site in 1984. It has discussion list used by students and teachers to con- around 2’000 students split into two daily sessions fer electronically and a ‘cyber aunt’ to whom kids (7:30am–1pm, 1 pm-6:30pm). Radin Mas was des- can send an email when they have problems. ignated as one of the six original Accelerating the Use of IT in Primary Schools (AITP) by the Ministry of Access to the Internet is provided for both students Education. The school has around 200 computers, a ratio and teachers. For example, the “Kid’s matrix zone” of roughly one computer per five students. Broadband is a place where kids who do not have computers at access to both the Singapore One domestic backbone home can go before and after school for free (and and the global Internet is provided via ADSL lines. supervised) access to the Internet. The staff room provides a location with computers hooked to a Lo- Each grade has its own web page. Every grade also cal Area Network for teachers to use e-mail, access has a computer-related project ranging from cross- the Internet and carry out administrative tasks. cultural e-mail to ‘visiting’ different countries by surf- ing the web, through email and video-conferencing. What will be the consequences of a heavy dose of Kids aged 9-11 have created a ‘virtual zoo’ with a computerization in primary schools? Will the already map and images of different animals. strong disposition towards myopia in Asian kids— around 60 per cent of first grade students in Singa- Radin Mas is also using computers to teach traditional pore already wear glasses—be worsened? Will sitting subjects. It is perhaps easier to describe this by stating in front of computers encourage a sedentary life- what it is not about. It is not about using a computer to style? We witnessed half a dozen ‘obese’ kids doing teach math or science or using it as a reference tool exercises to a video during their recess as part of a (e.g., online encyclopedia). It is not strictly teaching mandated program to reduce weight. Or will intense how to use a computer (e.g., learning a programming computer exposure create a new breed of cyber kid, language) although understanding how to use software one who uses the computer as naturally as a pencil such as Windows is an inevitable side effect. The focus or a calculator, and armed with this intuition, create is more on integrating computers into the learning and unimagined future applications?34 creative process. Examples:

38 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

secondary school, students will have low) as well as changes to laws acquired a variety of IT skills and ex- and industry codes for computer pectations, raising the possibility of security, copyright and privacy. asking research questions like: What impact will this have on government · The Electronic Transactions and industrial productivity? What sorts Act came into force in July of applications will today’s students 1998.35 It provides the legal demand and invent? Which skills will foundation for electronic trans- be important in Singapore in 2020? actions and the recognition of What will be the cognitive impact on electronic contracts and digital children whose primary contact with signatures. It also made provi- information is in machine-readable sions for government agencies form, and who are proficient in image to accept electronic records processing before they write well? without making any modifica- What of the world view and temporal tions to existing laws. The act habits of children who take immedi- also created a Controller to li- ate global communication for granted? cense certificate authorities. The Singaporean commitment to IT- There currently are two certifi- based education presents us with an cation authorities in Singapore. excellent opportunity for research. The first, Netrust, was initially created as a joint-venture 4.4 Electronic commerce projects with the former NCB but is today fully managed and The Ministry of Communications and run by the private sector. Information Technology and more spe- cifically IDA (and its predecessor or- · E-commerce infrastruc- ganizations), have launched various ture: The government, IT in- initiatives and programs to promote dustry partners and financial electronic commerce in Singapore. A institutions, have been devel- point worth noting is that the govern- oping infrastructure and serv- ment positions itself as ahead of the ices. For example Netrust was community by determining trends and formed to issue and manage future plans of the country and pro- digital keys and certificates to viding support to local industry. enhance confidence among online buyers and sellers. 4.4.1 Electronic Commerce Other initiatives included one Hotbed of the first implementations of the Secure Electronic Transac- As early as August 1996, the govern- tion (SET) protocol, used for ment, through the former National online credit card payments Computer Board (NCB) introduced the and the C-ONE cash card al- Electronic Commerce Hotbed (ECH) lowing purchasers to make Program to promote e-commerce and low denomination online pay- develop Singapore as an international ments. e-commerce centre. Key features of the program included: 4.4.2 Electronic Commerce Master Plan · EC Policy Committee: This committee was formed in Janu- The Electronic Commerce Master Plan, ary 1997 to ensure that the ap- launched in September 1998, followed propriate laws and regulations the ECH Program.36 Concrete targets were developed for fostering e- in the plan include achieving S$ 4 bil- commerce. Several study groups lion (US$ 2.3) worth of e-commerce were formed to analyze what revenue and 50 per cent of businesses laws might need to be introduced using e-commerce by the year 2003. or amended in light of e-com- Just as the ECH, a policy committee merce. Recommendations in- made up of various government agen- cluded the Electronic cies and known as the Electronic Com- Transactions Act (described be- merce Coordinating Committee (EC3),

39 Singapore Case Study

has been created to oversee imple- ture into electronic commerce mentation of the plan. including tax concessions on off- shore income derived through e- The plan has five central points backed commerce. Another step was by specific programs and projects: lifting restrictions on the import of encryption products to further 1. Develop an internationally enhance confidence among com- linked e-commerce infra- panies conducting e-commerce in structure: This aims at Singapore. Singapore also aims partnering global expertise with to attract foreign talent. Immi- local partners to help build na- gration procedures have been tional e-commerce financial and facilitated for employees coming logistics infrastructure. On the into Singapore to work in the ICT Business-to-Consumer (B2C) sector. front, the Consumer-Connect service bureau provides secure 4. Promote usage of e-com- electronic transaction processing merce through the public and services to web merchants and private sector: This initiative digital content publishers. It al- aims to provide key public serv- lows them to take advantage of ices online by the year 2001. This low set-up costs and hassle-free will be paralleled with mass edu- implementation to commerce- cation and incorporation of e- enable their business. On the commerce in the curricula of Business-to-Business (B2B) universities and polytechnic in- front, IDA has successfully stitutes. The National University teamed up global companies with of Singapore has launched a Mas- local ones (e.g., Commerce-1 ter’s program in e-Business, a with Sesami.com) through the joint program of the Business Local Industry Upgrading Pro- School and the School of Com- gram (LIUP). puting. Nanyang Technological University also provides a Mas- 2. Jump-start Singapore as an ter’s program with a concentra- e-commerce hub: This initiative tion in electronic commerce. focuses on the sectors in which Public awareness is being raised Singapore has an inherent ad- through presentations at com- vantage as a hub as well as to munity centres and events such attract international companies as the e-Festival that took place to establish offices in the coun- March 2000.38 In an effort to be- try. Singapore’s advantages in- come a leader in the measure- clude a stable financial ment of e-commerce, infrastructure; an efficient trans- Singapore’s Department of Sta- port and logistics infrastructure; tistics hosted an international and strong telecommunications conference on this subject in De- connectivity and e-commerce in- cember 1999.39 frastructures. The aim is to trans- form Singapore from being a port 5. Harmonize cross-border e- to a portal. commerce laws and policies: The Singaporean government 3. Encourage businesses to use has been collaborating with ma- e-commerce strategically: jor trading partners to synchro- This initiative focuses on small nize e-commerce laws. It is and medium enterprises (SME) actively participating in interna- development and creation of lo- tional forums on e-commerce cal e-commerce expertise.37 related issues. Two bilateral SMEs are encouraged to utilize agreements have been signed. e-commerce for their core busi- One with Canada covers cross nesses. Several financial incen- certification where both countries tives and funding schemes are recognize respective countries’ available to help companies ven- digital certificates. A second with

40 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

Australia involves the develop- commerce activity is growing rapidly. ment of joint e-commerce The value of e-commerce transactions projects. Singapore is playing a rose from S$ 958 million major role in the Asia-Pacific re- (US$ 552 million) in 1997 to gion with regards to e-commerce S$ 1.6 billion (US$ 0.9 billion) in activities. The Asia Pacific Eco- 1998. Business-to-business e-com- nomic Cooperation forum (APEC) merce constituted the bulk of trans- created an e-commerce Task actions (98 per cent). Force in 1998. This taskforce is co-chaired by Singapore and The survey also measured Internet Australia who have developed an access and usage among the compa- e-commerce plan to be imple- nies with 91 per cent of the top 1’000 mented in the region. The Asso- enterprises having Internet access. ciation of South East Asian The highest ratios were found in the Nations’ (ASEAN) e-commerce Retail Trade, Transport and Commu- arm (e-ASEAN taskforce) focuses nications and Manufacturing indus- on encouraging and facilitating tries. Nearly half (46 per cent) of the the growth of e-commerce. It has top enterprises have their own web formulated plans to accelerate sites. The study found that of those the development of e-commerce with web sites were primarily used for across the region and identified advertising, getting feedback and car- key factors, such as cyber laws, rying out product searches. It is in- secure messaging infrastructure, teresting to contrast those findings payment gateways, and on-line with another 1998 survey carried out services and products for regional by IDA. The IDA survey is based on a development. random sample of 747 companies with data disaggregated based on estab- 4.4.3 Profile of E-commerce lishment size. It found that overall 80 Activity per cent of the companies had Internet access; almost all companies with The Singapore Department of Statis- more than 100 employees have ac- tics is one of the few national statisti- cess. Almost one in three companies cal agencies in the world developing (30.8 per cent) has a web site; this a framework for measuring e-com- ranges from 29 per cent for enter- merce. It launched a national survey prises with less than 25 employees to in February 1999 sent to the top 1’000 86 per cent among companies with companies in Singapore (based on more than 500 employees. The big- turnover) as well as the top 1’000 IT gest barriers for e-commerce adop- companies. tion among the company’s surveyed were the cost and lack of IT exper- According to the survey, e-commerce tise. transactions accounted for 0.1 per cent of the total turnover of the According to IDA’s 1999 IT Household economy of Singapore. However, e- Survey, 11 per cent of Singaporean

Table 4.4: E-commerce in Singapore

HFRPPHUFHÃWUDQVDFWLRQVà ,QWHUQHWÃDFFHVVÃE\ÃFRPSDQLHVà S$ million à à à à B2B sales 955 1’600 1’800 Have Internet access 91% B2C sales 3 34 93 Have web site 46% Total 958 1’634 1’893 Engage in e-commerce 4%

Note: 1999 data are projections. Data based on top 1'000 Singaporean companies (by revenue) and top 1'000 IT companies. Source: Singapore Department of Statistics.

41 Singapore Case Study

Box 4.2: AsiaStockWatch.com

AsiaStockWatch.com is a comprehensive finan- advertising, sponsorship and e-commerce activi- cial we site, which empowers the growing popu- ties. Its parent company, SESDAQ-listed Panpac lation of increasingly sophisticated and Meida.Com Limited, is a leading home-grown pub- technologically-savvy investors. Through its In- lisher of special-interest magazines with offices vestment Adviser’s Licence, it is regulated by the in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Panpac Monetary Authority of Singapore. AsiaStockWatch Media.Com’s portfolio of more than 40 titles in provides timely and objective analysis of impor- three different language covers a wide range of tant events affecting the local equity and financil interests from IT and Internet to education, per- scenes. Besides being an independent provider sonal investment and lifestyle. AsiaStockWatch of financial and business information, it also of- is able to complement its online activities with an fers a broad array of services and tools to assist offline presence by leveraging on the media ex- investors in managing their finance portfolio ef- perience of Panpac Media.Com. To date it has suc- fectively. The company has a registered subscriber cessfully organized financial-related seminars, base of 45’000. Revenue is derived from retail exhibitions, talks with numerous financial insti- and corporate subscriptions, content syndication, tutions and organizations.

Internet users have shopped online. (16 per cent). Over 80 per cent of Of those, more than half made a pur- online purchases are made with a chase. The median value of a purchase credit card; twelve per cent are made was S$ 135 (US$ 78) . The most popu- by cash on delivery. The major rea- lar item purchased was books (39 per son for not shopping online is a pref- cent) followed by computer-related erence for physical shops in order to products (20 per cent), food (18 per easily compare prices and other fea- cent) and movie and theatre tickets tures.

1 National Computer Board of Singapore, “A Vision of an Intelligent Island,” The IT2000 Report, SNP Publishers, Singapore March, 1992. 2 Singapore Department of Statistics, Government Finance, http://www.singstat.gov.sg/FACT/SIF/sif17.html. 3 IDA, Information Technology Roadmap, http://www.ida.gov.sg/website/IDAContent.nsf/ 14899db7846d2bcc482568360017c696/30818f31870d93b4c825691f000cbe02. 4 http://www.ida.gov.sg/registration/RoadmapReg.nsf/frmForm?OpenForm. 5 For example, in spite of significant subsidy and guaranteed procurement in the building of the Singapore ONE backbone and services, broadband utilization and applications have taken off slowly. Three years after the launch of Singapore ONE, there are only 47,500 DSL and cable modem subscribers, and approximately 150 Singapore ONE applications. (There were 64 pilot services in 1997). 6 http://www.gov.sg/psd/pau/index.html. 7 There are 26 categories of scholarship for students in a variety of disciplines for studying in Singapore or abroad, http://www.gov.sg/psd/psc/award.html. 8 Singapore’s civil servants are renown for a lack of corruption. According to one survey, Singapore was the sixth least corrupt country out of ninety measured and the least corrupt in the Asian region. It is notably ahead of countries such as USA, Australia and Japan in this measure. See Transparency International. “Transparency International Releases the Year 2000 Corruption Perceptions Index.” Press Release. 13 September 2000. http://www.transparency.de/documents/cpi/2000/cpi2000.html#cpi.

42 4. Information & Communication Technology & the Nation

9 The Ministry of Health web site is hosted off of the Singapore government’s main web site: http://www.gov.sg/moh. 10 http://www.smc-cme.gov.sg. 11 http://www.gov.sg/moh/mohiss/shlthsvc.html. 12 http://www.nus.edu.sg. 13 All early research and education networks have had to make a transition as a result of the commercial tidal wave which has swept over them, see, Press, L., “Will Commercial Networks Prevail in Developing Nations?,” OnTheInternet, Vol. 3, No. 2, March/April, 1997, pp 40-41, http://som.csudh.edu/fac/lpress/articles/commerc.htm. 14 http://www.cir.nus.edu.sg. 15 http://www.krdl.org.sg. 16 http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ntrc. 17 http://www.ntu.edu.sg. 18 http://www.singaren.net.sg. 19 http://www.singaren.net.sg/html/localnet.html. 20 http://www.startap.net. 21 www.apan.net. 22 http://www.singaren.net.sg/html/aup.html. 23 http://www.gov.sg/mom/news/news99/990831.html. 24 http://www.fba.nus.edu.sg/postgrad/gsb/eBusiness. 25 Press, L. “Developing Networks in Less Industrialized Nations.” IEEE Computer. June 1995. 26 See Singapore Ministry of Education. “Singapore Ranks Highly in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Education.” Press Release. 19 November 1999. 27 http://www1.moe.edu.sg. 28 http://www.moe.edu.sg/new/mite.htm, http://www.moe.edu.sg/iteducation/masterplan/summary.htm. 29 MOE expects the connections to be in the 10-15 Mbps range within two or three years. 30 http://www.moe.edu.sg/iteducation/masterplan/cpst.htm. 31 http://www.thinkquest.org. 32 http://www.moe.edu.sg/iteducation/masterplan/schemes.htm. 33 Two web sites are available for the school: http://www.moe.edu.sg/schools/radinmas and www.rmps.moe.edu.sg. 34 Indeed, one problem is that the children are increasingly more IT-knowledgeable than teachers. See Peter Cordingley. “Wired for Life.” AsiaWeek. 12 May 2000. http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0512/cover1.html 35 The text of the Electronic Transactions Act is available here: http://www.cca.gov.sg/eta/index.html. 36 See “Singapore Launches Electronic Commerce Masterplan.” NCB Press Release. 23 September 1998. 37 There is less Internet take-up by small and medium enterprises (SME)—defined as firms of less than 200 employees—than larger companies. The Local Enterprise Electronic Commerce Program, launched in November 1998, promoted SME adoption of e-commerce. SME’s could receive a grant of up to 50 per cent of project cost, including a connection to Singapore One. Moreover, the companies’ services were promoted to interested parties. Over 500 companies were provided assistance under this program. The program came to an end in December 2000 and has been replaced by a new one called e-Business Industry Development Scheme (eBIDS). See “IDA & PSB Announce S$30 Million Incentive Scheme to Spur e-Business Development and Growth in Singapore.” IDA Press Release. 19 October 2000. 38 “eFestival Asia - An Enhanced Lifestyle For All.” IDA Media Release. 22 February 2000 39 See the web pages for the “Conference on the Measurement of Electronic Commerce” at http://www.singstat.gov.sg/EC/echome.html.

43 Singapore Case Study

5. Summary & recommendations

5.1 State of the Internet in Singapore · connectivity infrastructure: a measure based on international The Mosaic Group (http://mosaic. and intranational backbone band- unomaha.edu/gdi.html), has devel- width, exchange points, and last- oped a framework for characterizing mile access methods. the state of the Internet in a nation. They consider six dimensions, each of · organizational infrastructure: a which has five ordinal values ranging measure based on the state of from zero (non-existent) to four the ISP industry and market con- (highly developed). The dimensions ditions. are as follow: · sophistication of use: a measure · pervasiveness: a measure based characterizing usage from con- on users per capita and the de- ventional to highly sophisticated gree to which non-technicians and driving innovation. are using the Internet. A definition of each dimension and its · geographic dispersion: a meas- levels is shown in Annex 4, and ure of the concentration of the Singaporean values for these dimen- Internet within a nation, from sions are shown below: none or a single city to nation- wide availability. Pervasiveness is rated at level 4, Pervasive. Estimates of the number of · sectoral absorption: a measure users vary widely depending on fre- of the degree of utilization of the quency of use, access location, age Internet in the education, com- group and other factors. Surveys mercial, health care and public made between June-September 2000 sectors. put the number of Internet users at

Figure 5.1: State of the Internet in Singapore

Dimension Value Pervasiveness 

Pervasiveness 4   Geographic Dispersion 4 Sophistication Dispersion  Sectoral Absorption 3.5  Connectivity Infrastructure 3 Organizational Infrastructure 3.5 Organizational Absorption Sophistication of Use 3.5

TOTAL 21.5 Connectivity

Note: The higher the value, the better. 0 = lowest, 4 = highest. Source: ITU adapted from Mosaic Group methodology.

44 5. Summary & recommendations

anywhere between 14 – 43 per cent the United States. Besides conven- of the population. Government data tional dial-up for local Internet access, state that Singapore has the highest broadband access is available via household Internet access penetration leased line, ISDN, ADSL and cable in the world (42 per cent). modem.

Geographic Dispersion is rated at The Organizational Infrastructure level 4, Nationwide. The Internet is is at level 3.5, between Competitive available all over the island. Singa- and Robust. There is free entry to the pore’s small size of 660 square kilo- Internet Service Provider (ISP) mar- metres makes this dimension easy to ket. ISPs must be licensed and pay fulfil. Internet access is available to appropriate fees to the telecommuni- all telephone subscribers for the price cation regulatory authority. There of a local call. were 37 licensed ISPs in December 2000. ISPs are free to install their own Sectoral Absorption is rated at level national and international infrastruc- 3.5, between Common and Widely ture. The ISP market has only been Used. The ranking is a function of the open to full competition for a relatively type of connectivity in the education, short period of time.1 Therefore a business, government and health sec- ranking between competitive and ro- tors. The university and research and bust has been assigned until the new development community have high- regulatory and policy environment has speed connectivity to both the nation- proven itself. wide broadband network as well as the second generation Internet. The Sophistication of Use is at level 3.5, Masterplan for IT in Education provides between Transforming and Innovat- for Internet access from every primary ing. There is a rising degree of sophis- and secondary school classroom by tication in the Singaporean Internet the year 2002. All teachers and pu- market. Hi-tech hubs such as Suntec pils from Primary 4 and above will be City are attracting a growing number provided with email accounts. Internet of dot-coms. Businesses are increas- absorption in the business sector is ingly using the Internet to transform common. Almost all firms with more their internal and external interactions than 100 employees have Internet and e-commerce is active and grow- access. Over 80 per cent of those with ing. The National University of Singa- less than 100 employees have Internet pore has a connection to the second access. Over 60 per cent of firms with generation Internet and is carrying out more than 100 employees have a web various Internet-related research site. Government absorption is high. projects while primary and secondary All ministries and statutory boards schools are increasingly integrating have web sites, there is a high degree Internet applications into schoolwork. of IT knowledge and use by govern- A noteworthy government application ment employees and there is a gov- is the e-Citzen portal where users can ernment portal for online citizen consult information and complete services. In the health sector, the Min- some forms online. The mass media istry of Health as well as all hospitals has embraced the Internet with most and polyclinics are connected to the newspapers and radio and television Internet. There is a lower level of ac- stations online; there are also media- cess among general practitioners. based portals and audio and video streaming. Finally, there are a grow- The Connectivity Infrastructure is ing number of users and applications at level 3, Broad. The Singapore One on the broadband Singapore One net- national backbone uses Asynchronous work. Transfer Mode (ATM) technology over fibre optic cable at speeds of up to This framework has been applied in 155 Megabytes per second (Mbps). several other nations, including some The SingTel Internet Exchange (STIX) in the region. The dimension values has 400 Mbps of bandwidth to the for the Special Administrative Region Asia-Pacific region and 405 Mbps to (SAR) of Hongkong and Taiwan-China

45 Singapore Case Study

Table 5.1: State of the Internet in Singapore compared to other economies

Date P GD SA CI OI SU Total Source

Singapore 5-00 4 4 3.5 3 3.5 3.5 21.5 ITU Hongkong SAR 9-99 4 4 4 3 3 3 21 Mosaic Taiwan- China 9-99 4 4 3 3 3 3 20 Mosaic

Note: The following dimensions are considered: Pervasiveness (P), Geographic Disper- sion (GD), Sectoral Absorption (SA), Connectivity Infrastructure (CI), Organizational Infrastructure (OI), and Sophistication of Use (US). The higher the value, the better (0 = lowest, 4 = highest). Source: ITU, MOSAIC Group, .

are compared to Singapore below. All 15 per cent of general practitioners three rank practically the same with have PCs and they have been slow to similar strengths. Although Singapore adopt Internet access. A Singaporean ranked first, the surveys for the other health portal tried to promote its busi- two economies were done earlier. Fur- ness by giving doctors PCs bundled thermore, the qualitative nature of clinic management and medicine or- some of the dimensions makes a com- dering software. There is a feeling that plete accurate comparison difficult to this initiative has not been extremely achieve. Nonetheless, they suggest successful because general practition- that there is a tight race to become ers are not ICT-savvy. This suggests Asia’s regional Internet hub. there is a need to raise awareness and train general practitioners in ICT. 5.2 Recommendations The Ministry of Health is beginning to In a country as wired as Singapore, look at some of the regulatory issues recommendations for enhancing associated with ICT such as privacy, Internet diffusion may seem superflu- ordering drugs from overseas, etc. ous. Singapore appears to be doing There is a need to accelerate the pro- so much correctly and the government cedure for elaborating policies and a is an active supporter and promoter legal framework for health-related of Information and Communication Internet issues. There are also health Technology (ICT). But perhaps there concerns surrounding intense ICT us- is too much of a push. It may be use- age such as repetitive stress injury, ful to sit back for awhile and ponder isolation, bad eyesight, etc. There is the results and repercussions of an a need for research on the ergonomic increasingly wired society. Of course, impact of heavy ICT use. that is easier said than done since the Internet moves at lightening speed One focus of e-health applications on and there is competitive pressure to the island has been on creating elec- stay ahead of regional and global ri- tronic medical records in order to eas- vals in the race to become a premier ily deliver consistent information to ICT hub. Nonetheless, there are a few practitioners. One problem has been areas that merit attention. poor training in data entry. Another is that although much data is available 5.2.1 Health at hospitals, so far there is not a com- Although Singapore’s hospitals and mon island-wide system. There is a clinics are well wired, only around need to develop a standard, inte-

46 5. Summary & recommendations

grated, up-to-date and verified medi- ing anecdote illustrates how ex- cal record for use by the entire isting procurement procedures Singaporean health community. work against e-commerce. Exist- ing procedures call for govern- The Internet has not yet progressed ment institutions receiving to being exploited routinely in the quotations from three different health community. The main applica- entities in order to make a pur- tions that are utilized are email and chase. This procedure defeats the information searching. A significant benefits of timeliness and effi- portion of the public and even some ciency of purchasing products doctors are still not aware of the online. Internet’s benefits. There is a need to get them used to the idea of using ICT 5.2.4Pricing and developing basic skills before us- Dial-up Internet access tariffs are rela- ing more advanced applications. There tively low compared to other coun- is also a need to build awareness and tries. However, there is no flat rate to demonstrate value to the potential unlimited access plan combined with user. no local telephone usage charges. As a result, users remain conscious of the 5.2.2 Education time spent and are reluctant to stay Singapore has made impressive connected to experiment. This de- progress in educational access and use tracts from sophistication of use and of ICT. As a world leader in this area, innovation. Research suggests one of it would be useful to conduct research the reasons countries such as Canada, to determine the impact of ICT on cog- New Zealand and the United States nitive and social development. If the have such high Internet penetration island wants to create an Information levels is because they provide unlim- Society, then it needs to support con- ited Internet access plans and no lo- tinuous ICT training for its residents. cal telephone usage charges. Promoting attractive broadband con- Furthermore, broadband Internet ac- nectivity to educational applications cess (cable modem and ADSL) pric- from homes could facilitate this. ing is not particularly cheap discouraging take-up. A related pric- 5.2.3 E-commerce ing issue is mobile where Singapore’s The government has done much to Receiving Party Pays system may ex- promote e-commerce. However, there plain why mobile take-up is lower than are still obstacles particularly relating economies such as Taiwan-China, to awareness, lower rates of adoption Hongkong SAR or the Republic of Ko- by small and medium enterprises and rea. antiquated procedures. Recommenda- tions include: 5.2.5 Literacy The one indicator that drags Singa- · Enhancing awareness of e-com- pore down in international compari- merce through wider dissemina- sons is literacy. While most developed tion of e-commerce success countries claim literacy rates of close stories. to 100 per cent, according to the UNDP, the adult literacy rate in Sin- · Encouragement of e-commerce gapore in 1998 was 91.8 per cent. by reducing the Goods and Serv- Statistics Singapore recently released ices Tax for online purchases. data from the June 2000 census show- ing adult literacy to be 93 per cent. · Incentives for online submission There is a close tie between literacy of government documents that and Internet use. Thus Singapore would trigger changes to inter- needs to improve its adult literacy rate nal business practices to become if it is to achieve a universal Internet more ICT-oriented. diffusion. Thus it is recommended that government infocommunications as- · Streamlining government pro- sistance project target raising adult curement practices. The follow- literacy as a priority.

47 Singapore Case Study

5.2.6 Market research problem is differences in data. For example, there are varying estimates There is a vast amount of easily avail- about something as basic as the able information for Singapore. For number of Internet users in Singapore. example, Statistics Singapore has a Yet another problem is that many sur- web site where it provides key statis- veys refer only to the resident popu- tics for free. IDA also provides some lation of Singapore, missing out on the important subscriber-based telecom- growing number of non-citizens or munication statistics on its web site.2 permanent residents which now ac- There are a number of market re- count for almost twenty per cent of search companies that also provide the population. Yet another limitation some data about the Singapore is that data is not centrally available Internet market. However, there are but must be obtained from numerous numerous limitations to the available different sources. It is recommended data that hinder market analysis and that IDA, in conjunction with Statis- hence policy-making. For example, tics Singapore and others, enhance its there are scarce publicly available sta- online data offerings and market re- tistics about market value. Another search to deal with the issues noted.

1 The Internet access service provision market was liberalized in October 1998, international Internet exchange services liberalized in July 1999 and foreign equity limits lifted in September 1999. 2 Hopefully IDA will be able to maintain the timeliness and completeness of the data as the number of operators increases.

48 Annexes

Annex 1: List of meetings

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49 Singapore Case Study

Annex 2: Acronyms and abbreviations

APEC Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum ASEAN Association Of South East Asian Nations DOS Department of Statistics ICT Information and Communication Technology IDA Infocomm Development Authority ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network ISP Internet Service Provider IT Information Technology LAN Local Area Network MCIT Ministry of Communications and Information Technology MITA Ministry of Information and the Arts MOE Ministry of Economy MOF Ministry of Finance NCB National Computer Board NSTB National Science and Technology Board NUS National University of Singapore NUS National University of Singapore PAGI Parents Advisory Group for the Internet SBA Singapore Broadcasting Authority Singapore Dollar (S$) The currency used in Singapore. At 30 June 2000, one United States dollar was equivalent to 1.73451 Singapore Dollars. SINGAREN Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network SME Small and Medium Enterprises SPH Singapore Press Holdings TAS Telecommunication Authority of Singapore TDB Trade Development Board WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization WTO World Trade Organization

50 Annexes

Annex 3: Useful links

2UJDQL]DWLRQÃ :HEVLWHÃ Main government-related ICT organizations Ministry of Information and Communications Technology http://www.mcit.gov.sg Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore KWWSZZZLGDJRYVJ Ministry of Information and the Arts http://www.gov.sg/mita Singapore Broadcasting Authority http://www.sba.gov.sg Main ICT providers Mobile One http://www.m1.com.sg Pacific Internet http://www2.pacfusion.com/sg Singapore CableVision http://www.scv.com.sg Singapore Telecom http://www.singtel.com StarHub http://www.starhub.com.sg Mass media Singapore Press Holdings KWWSZZZVSKFRPVJ MediaCorp http://radio.mediacorpsingapore.com Broadband networks Singapore One KWWSZZZVQHWVJ Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network KWWSZZZVLQJDUHQQHWVJ Academic Ministry of Education KWWSZZZPRHHGXVJ National University of Singapore KWWSZZZQXVHGXVJ Health Ministry of Health KWWSZZZJRYVJPRK Electronic commerce IDA e-commerce site KWWSZZZHFJRYVJ Portals Singapore government KWWSZZZJRYVJ e-Citizen KWWSZZZHFLWL]HQJRYVJ i-One.net http://www.i-one.net AsiaOne http://www.asia1.com.sg Other Statistics Singapore http://www.singstat.gov.sg

51 Singapore Case Study

Annex 4: Framework dimensions

7DEOHÃÃ3HUYDVLYHQHVVÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃ Level 0 1RQH[LVWHQW: The Internet does not exist in a viable form in this country. No computers with international IP connections are located within the country. There may be some Internet users in the country; however, they obtain a connection via an international telephone call to a foreign ISP. Level 1 (PEU\RQLF: The ratio of users per capita is on the order of magnitude of less than one in a thousand (less than 0.1%). Level 2 (VWDEOLVKHG: The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of magnitude of at least one in a thousand (0.1% or greater). Level 3 &RPPRQ: The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of magnitude of at least one in a hundred (1% or greater). Level 4 3HUYDVLYH: The Internet is pervasive. The ratio of Internet users per capita is on the order of magnitude of at least one in 10 (10% or greater).

7DEOHÃÃ*HRJUDSKLFÃ'LVSHUVLRQÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃ Level 0 1RQH[LVWHQW. The Internet does not exist in a viable form in this country. No computers with international IP connections are located within the country. A country may be using UUCP connections for email and USEnet. Level 1 6LQJOHÃORFDWLRQ: Internet points-of-presence are confined to one major population centre. Level 2 0RGHUDWHO\ÃGLVSHUVHG: Internet points-of-presence are located in at least half of the first-tier political subdivisions of the country. Level 3 +LJKO\ÃGLVSHUVHG: Internet points-of-presence are located in at least three-quarters of the first-tier political subdivisions of the country. Level 4 1DWLRQZLGH: Internet points-of-presence are located in all first-tier political sub-divisions of the country. Rural dial-up access is publicly and commonly available and leased line connectivity is available.

7DEOHÃDÃ6HFWRUDOÃ8VHÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃ 6HFWRUÃ 5DUHÃ 0RGHUDWHÃ &RPPRQÃ Academic - primary and >0-10% have leased-line 10-90% have leased-line >90% have leased-line secondary schools, Internet connectivity Internet connectivity Internet connectivity universities Commercial-businesses >0-10% have Internet servers 10-90% have Internet servers >90% have Internet with > 100 employees servers Health-hospitals and >0-10% have leased-line 10-90% have leased-line >90% have leased-line clinics Internet connectivity Internet connectivity Internet connectivity Public-top and second tier >0-10% have Internet servers 10-90% have Internet servers >90% have Internet government entities servers

7DEOHÃEÃ7KHÃ6HFWRUDOÃ$EVRUSWLRQÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃ 6HFWRUDOÃSRLQWÃWRWDOÃ $EVRUSWLRQÃGLPHQVLRQÃUDWLQJÃ 0 Level 0 1RQH[LVWHQWÃ 1-4 Level 1 5DUHÃ 5-7 Level 2 0RGHUDWHÃ 8-9 Level 3 &RPPRQÃ 10-12 Level 4 :LGHO\ÃXVHGÃ

52 Annexes

7DEOHÃÃ&RQQHFWLYLW\Ã,QIUDVWUXFWXUHÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃ Ã 'RPHVWLFÃEDFNERQHÃ ,QWHUQDWLRQDOÃ/LQNVÃ ,QWHUQHWÃ([FKDQJHVÃ $FFHVVÃ0HWKRGVÃ Level 0 1RQ None None None None H[LVWHQWÃ Level 1 7KLQÃ ≤ 2 Mbps = 128 Kbps None Modem Level 2 ([SDQGHGÃÃ >2 >128 Mbps 1 Modem – 200 Mbps -- 45 Mbps 64 Kbps leased lines Level 3 %URDGÃÃ >200 Mbps >45 Mbps More than 1; Bilateral Modem -- 100 Gbps -- 10 Gbps or Open > 64 Kbps leased lines Level 4 ,PPHQVHÃÃ > 100 Gbps > 10 Gbps Many; Both Bilateral < 90% modem and Open > 64 Kbps leased lines

7DEOHÃÃ7KHÃ2UJDQL]DWLRQDOÃ,QIUDVWUXFWXUHÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃ Level 0 1RQH: The Internet is not present in this country. Level 1 6LQJOH: A single ISP has a monopoly in the Internet service provision market. This ISP is generally owned or significantly controlled by the government. Level 2 &RQWUROOHG: There are only a few ISPs because the market is closely controlled through high barriers to entry. All ISPs connect to the international Internet through a monopoly telecommunications service provider. The provision of domestic infrastructure is also a monopoly. Level 3 &RPSHWLWLYH: The Internet market is competitive and there are many ISPs due to low barriers to market entry. The provision of international links is a monopoly, but the provision of domestic infrastructure is open to competition, or vice versa. Level 4 5REXVW: There is a rich service provision infrastructure. There are many ISPs and low barriers to market entry. International links and domestic infrastructure are open to competition. There are collaborative organizations and arrangements such as public exchanges, industry associations, and emergency response teams.

7DEOHÃÃ7KHÃ6RSKLVWLFDWLRQÃRIÃ8VHÃRIÃWKHÃ,QWHUQHWÃÃ Level 0 1RQH: The Internet is not used, except by a very small fraction of the population that logs into foreign services. Level 1 0LQLPDO: The small user community struggles to employ the Internet in conventional, mainstream applications. Level 2 &RQYHQWLRQDO: The user community changes established practices somewhat in response to or in order to accommodate the technology, but few established processes are changed dramatically. The Internet is used as a substitute or straight-forward enhancement for an existing process (e.g. e-mail vs. post). This is the first level at which we can say that the Internet has "taken hold" in a country. Level 3 7UDQVIRUPLQJ: The user community’s use of the Internet results in new applications, or significant changes in existing processes and practices, although these innovations may not necessarily stretch the boundaries of the technology’s capabilities. One strong indicator of business process re-engineeering to take advantage of the Internet, is that a significant number (over 5%) of Web sites, both government and business, are interactive. Level 4 ,QQRYDWLQJ: The user community is discriminating and highly demanding. The user community is regularly applying, or seeking to apply the Internet in innovative ways that push the capabilities of the technology. The user community plays a significant role in driving the state-of-the-art and has a mutually beneficial and synergistic relationship with developers.

53 Singapore Case Study

Annex 5: Bibliography

IDA. IT Household Survey 1999. Available on the IDA web site under Infocomm Facts and Figures, Survey Results. IDA. Info-communications Technology (ICT) Usage Survey 1999. January 2000. Available on the IDA web site under Infocomm Facts and Figures, Survey Results. IDA. Infocomm Manpower & Skills Survey 1999. March 2000. Available on the IDA web site under Infocomm Facts and Figures, Survey Results. Ministry of Information and the Arts. inform.educate.entertain@sg: Arts & Media in Singapore. September 2000. http://www.gov.sg/mita/bksams.htm Nielsen//NetRatings. “Singapore Internet Audience Activity for June 2000.” Press Release. 4 Au- gust 2000. http://209.249.142.22/press_releases/pr_000804_sg.htm Press, Larry. The Internet in Singapore: A Benchmark Report. March 2000. Available at http://mosaic.unomaha.edu/SINGAPORE_2000.pdf Singapore Telecom. Annual Report. Various years.

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