The nationwide broadband network will undergo an upgrade of up to S$100 million (US$74.3 million), with more than half a million households expected to sign up and benefit from higher speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) by 2028, said the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Wednesday (Feb 21).
The investment comes nearly two decades after the first nationwide broadband network investments, with the upgrading to occur from mid-2024 to 2026. Higher bandwidth services are expected to be available from as early as next year.
The government’s plans to catalyse investments in this area were announced by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his Budget 2024 speech on Friday.
The upgrade aims to enable mass market access to speeds of up to 10Gbps in the second half of this decade, said Mr Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
The speed would be 10 times faster than what most homes have today. The nationwide broadband network currently runs in all homes, with more than 85 per cent on at least 1Gbps services.
“This also ensures that our connectivity infrastructure will be able to support technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and immersive media as they become more pervasive in the future,” Mr Wong said.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo said the investments were about “future proofing” the country as enhancing digital infrastructure does not “happen overnight”.
“I think a big part of it is ensuring that in the digital age, we are properly resourced, properly equipped,” said Mrs Teo.
“Because many of the ways in which digital developments will change our ways of working, ways of living, they’re not entirely known in advance. We just have to try and make a best effort as far as understanding what the trends are going to be and then making sure that our digital infrastructure is future-proofed.”
Even without knowing specific use cases, Singaporeans will likely see more immersive digital experiences, noted Mrs Teo.
“It will involve some additional smart devices, autonomous devices even, and certainly we all already can recognise that the impact of AI will be quite pervasive. And there will be many ways in which it is … deployed and you want to be able to benefit from that.”
Industry experts told CNA that 10Gbps network speeds would support the use of multiple devices in households, especially in applications that require higher data rates such as high-definition video streaming and online gaming.
