To ensure that Singapore stays ahead of the technology innovation and adoption curve, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) constantly monitors the infocomm landscape and charts the way forward for the country. The agency’s regulatory and policy function plays a vital role in this.

IDA’s main goal as a regulator is to ensure a competitive telecoms sector that will attract businesses to Singapore and facilitate those that are already operating here. For the consumers, a competitive environment means more choices, more innovation and lower prices, which will allow them to enjoy the benefits of new innovations that are appearing rapidly in this sector. There is also a need to raise resiliency and cyber security standards to ensure that our critical infrastructures and services can meet the demands of a Smart Nation, thereby maintaining Singapore’s reputation as a trusted ICT hub.

Developing a successful industry model for Next Gen NBN

The impact of an effective regulatory framework can be clearly seen in the successful rollout of the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN). For the Next Gen NBN, a new industry model was introduced, comprising three distinct layers with clearly-defined roles and responsibilities as well as rules separating them to prevent any conflict of interests. This helped create conditions for competition and innovation to thrive.

Today, 95 per cent of homes and businesses in Singapore are wired up to the Next Gen NBN, with more than 330,000 subscribers served by 22 retail service providers.

In time, access to the Next Gen NBN and the adoption of broadband services will become as pervasive as that of basic utilities such as water and electricity. One reason for this is that all homes in the future will come pre-wired with fibre connectivity, under amendments to the Code of Practice for Info-communication Facilities in Buildings (COPIF), which took effect from 1 May 2013.

IDA is also working with other government agencies and industry partners to see how the Next Gen NBN can be harnessed to help enhance the quality of life for Singaporeans. In January, two proposals, led by SingTel and Gateway Asia, were awarded under a Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) to encourage employers to adopt New Ways of Work through the use of ICT. Pilots on home-based work were subsequently carried out in industries such as telecommunications, healthcare and education.

Enhancing wireless connectivity

There has been continued progress in efforts to boost wireless connectivity in Singapore. As the Wireless@SG programme entered a new phase in April 2013, inter-operator roaming was introduced, enabling users to access the free public Wi-Fi network island-wide. Other enhancements to Wireless@SG included an increase in access speeds to up to 2 Mbps, and the implementation of SIM-based authentication from 1 April this year to simplify the wireless login process. Telcos M1, SingTel and StarHub were joined by Wi-Fi service provider Y5Zone Singapore Pte Ltd as the operators of Wireless@SG.

In June, Singapore took another major step towards the nationwide deployment of fourth generation (4G) telecommunication services, with the provisional allocation of spectrum for 4G systems and services to M1, SingTel Mobile and StarHub Mobile. This gave operators more long-term certainty on their spectrum holdings as they deployed 4G services.

In a separate initiative, IDA held a public consultation on the use of TV White Space (TVWS) technology, which taps on under-utilised spectrum within the TV broadcast channels to deliver wireless services. The consultation covered issues such as the licensing mechanism for TVWS devices, TVWS spectrum bands and access mechanism, device co-existence criteria and parameters, and management of geo-location databases.

Working with ASEAN neighbours to harmonise spectrum

On the international front, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia announced an agreement in June to harmonise the use of the 700 MHz band – a move that will allow the countries to address the growing demand for mobile broadband services, improve regional mobile roaming and pave the way for more competitive offerings in this space.

The harmonisation of the 700 MHz band was also discussed at the 13th ASEAN Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers Meeting (TELMIN) in November, which was chaired by Singapore. At the meeting, the Ministers agreed to intensify co-operation in this area. They also reaffirmed their commitment to creating a competent ASEAN ICT workforce and giving recognition to innovation and excellence in ICT in the region through the ASEAN ICT Awards.

Safeguarding consumer interests (Pending inputs on PDPA)

IDA’s approach to regulating the infocomm industry has been to allow market forces to play out as far as possible. However, it will consider intervening in the market when it sees a need to safeguard specific consumer interests.

In January 2013, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) was enacted to protect individuals’ personal data against misuse while promoting proper management of personal data in organisations. The Act is administered and enforced by the Personal Data Protection Commission .

Under the PDPA, a Do Not Call (DNC) Registry was set up to allow consumers in Singapore to opt out of unsolicited phone calls, faxes and advertisement messages from telemarketers. Individuals can register their Singapore mobile or fixed-line numbers with the DNC Registry, and organisations must check against it to confirm that the number is not listed before making a marketing call on the phone, via fax or via an SMS or MMS. The DNC Registry was officially launched on 2 January 2014, and the personal data protection requirements and provisions will take effect from 2 July this year.

Securing Singapore’s cyber environment

The Government has also taken further steps to secure the cyber environment and develop Singapore as a trusted and robust infocomm hub. In July, it launched the five-year National Cyber Security Masterplan 2018 which provides an overarching strategic direction to help the Government and organisations strengthen their resilience against cyber threats. The masterplan focuses on three key areas – building up the security and resilience of critical infocomm infrastructure, promoting the adoption of appropriate infocomm security measures among individuals and businesses, and growing Singapore’s pool of infocomm security experts.

In same month, the Cyber Security Awareness Day was held to raise infocomm security awareness and serve as a nationwide call-to-action to take personal and workplace responsibility in adopting secure practices. The annual event is championed by the Cyber Security Awareness Alliance jointly led by IDA and the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation. In 2013, more than 674,000 pledges were received from individuals and businesses to secure their ICT devices and online identities.

Encouraging greater energy efficiency in data centres

Besides addressing regulatory, policy and security-related issues in infocomm, IDA works with industry partners, academia and other stakeholders to identify strategic technologies and trends that Singapore can exploit to strengthen its competitive advantage.

One area that IDA is focusing on is the data centre opportunity. As demand for data centre space increases, there is a need to ensure the sustainable development of these facilities in an energy-constrained world. In line with this, IDA worked with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to introduce a Green Mark Scheme for New Data Centres in March. The scheme encourages new data centres to adopt energy-efficient design, technologies and systems early on in the planning and design phase. It is an addition to the BCA-IDA Green Mark Scheme for existing data centres, which was launched in October 2012.

Bringing geospatial technology to the next level

Another area that IDA has been focusing on is geospatial technology. Under its i-Singapore programme, IDA aims to bring private sector use of geospatial technologies to the next level by exploring the potential benefits of geospatial analysis and predictive modelling to businesses. In line with this, an i-Singapore Industry Networking Session was held in July for companies to share their experiences with geospatial adoption.

Driving IPv6 adoption

IDA is also working to raise awareness and promote adoption of the next-generation Internet. In line with this, the first-ever IPv6 Innovation Challenge was organised in March to demonstrate possibilities for future Internet-based services with IPv6, the new 128-bit protocol that can support a potentially unlimited number of Internet addresses. The competition attracted more than 20 proposals and 11 teams from Singapore tertiary institutions were shortlisted to present their ideas on how the latest version of IP can be leveraged for both businesses and day-to-day life.