RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), shares his thoughts on the infocomm sector, the role that it plays in Singapore’s economic and social transformation, as well as the foundation pieces that have to be put in place to ensure its continued growth and competitiveness.

1) What is your take on the future of the infocomm sector in Singapore?

There are still growth opportunities as businesses seek to better manage costs through more innovative use of infocomm technology.

Infocomm is a growing and thriving industry with a huge potential. Developments in computer science, broadband and wireless technologies are encouraging sophisticated demand for infocomm in many sectors – medicine, science, engineering, business and national defence. It is at the root of most innovation today and is constantly spinning off new business sectors and disrupting established sectors.

In Singapore, revenue growth of the infocomm industry has been on a strong up-trend since 2003, rising at an annual growth rate in excess of 12 per cent. While the current economic crisis may slow down the rate of growth, we remain optimistic about the long-term outlook for the infocomm sector.

Businesses can be expected to be more cautious with their spending and investment given the economic uncertainties ahead. Nonetheless, for the infocomm industry, there are still growth opportunities as businesses seek to better manage costs through more innovative use of infocomm technology.

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2) Do you see infocomm having the same transformative impact that it has had in the past two decades?

Under Singapore’s iN2015 masterplan, the vision is for Singapore to be an intelligent nation and a global city powered by infocomm. One of the key strategies behind this is to spearhead the transformation of key economic sectors, government and society through more sophisticated and innovative use of infocomm.

The ability to make computing resources available on a pay-per-use model via software as a service and cloud computing will help level up access to infocomm.

The impact of infocomm will intensify, especially in inter-disciplinary applications aimed at addressing issues across diverse areas such as healthcare, genomics, pharmaceuticals, security and energy.

Infocomm will enhance economic competitiveness and innovation, fostering a conducive environment to encourage the creation of new industries, innovative services and knowledge capital. For example, business process outsourcing has been made possible with the development of infrastructure that enables businesses to tap on manpower and expertise that is located anywhere around the world.

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Infocomm will enhance economic competitiveness and innovation, fostering a conducive environment to encourage the creation of new industries, innovative services and knowledge capital.

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Computing resources themselves are becoming a utility. The ability to make computing resources available on a pay-per-use model via software as a service and cloud computing will help level up access to infocomm and the benefits it brings to businesses. For example, it will enable Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to harness the power of infocomm for business transformation. This will complement existing initiatives like the /Business%20Sectors/Small%20and%20Medium%20Enterprises which is aimed at driving infocomm adoption amongst SMEs.

At the recent Technology Foresight Seminar organised by IDA, futurist Mike Liebhold talked about a world of digital abundance – abundant storage, improvements in bandwidth and unlimited computing power – a world where applications will change, and the way we interact with digital resources will also change.

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3) How do you think the various players in the infocomm industry will come together to drive these developments?

Players from the infocomm value chain will help transform innovative ideas into viable market products and applications.

Many of these developments will be driven by multiple groups of activities that make up an infocomm ecosystem. We have the research and innovation activities – the creative spark by luminaries, infocomm forerunners in the universities and research institutes which will pave the way for an environment of innovation necessary to drive our infocomm ecosystem.

As we move along the infocomm value chain, we have government agencies, technology transfer offices, venture capitalists, and even industry analysts, who help to transform these innovative ideas into viable market products and applications to be used by the infocomm industry.

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Oftentimes, end-users also provide feedback that will in turn enhance current products and applications. This then leads to a new cycle of innovation and which will further enrich lives through infocomm.

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The products and applications in turn, have an impact on how end-users, including non-infocomm industry sectors, governments, and consumers, function. Oftentimes, end-users also provide feedback that will in turn enhance current products and applications. This then leads to a new cycle of innovation which will further enrich lives through infocomm.

Underpinning this chain of activities and cycle of innovation is the hard and soft infrastructure. The hard infrastructure is made up of essentials like utilities and connectivity, without which infocomm will come to a standstill. The soft infrastructure is the framework that drives the ecosystem, for example, infocomm policies and infocomm manpower.

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4) What role does IDA play in catalysing these developments?

IDA’s main role is to build both the hard and soft infrastructure and create an environment where infocomm developments and innovation will thrive, so that the benefits of infocomm can be felt throughout all sectors of the society – be it businesses, schools or homes.

Singapore appoints the OpenNet consortium as the NetCo which will design, build and operate the passive infrastructure for its Next Gen NBN.

The development of the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) is an example of this. The Next Gen NBN will be a ubiquitous, state-of-the-art infrastructure that will level up infocomm access for both industry players and end-users. It represents a quantum leap in capability, delivering throughput of 100Mbps and scalable to 1Gbps. More significantly, the Next Gen NBN also signals a fundamental shift in the way the broadband market is structured.

Singapore is one of the first countries in the world to implement structural separation between the entity that designs, builds and operates the passive infrastructure (the Network Company or NetCo) of the Next Gen NBN and the entity that will manage the flow of ultra-high speed broadband traffic on this infrastructure (the Operating Company or OpCo).

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The Next Gen NBN also signals a fundamental shift in the way the broadband market is structured.

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What this does is redefine competition in the broadband market, moving it from vertically integrated players to a more competitive services market. Competition will shift from infrastructure ownership to broadband services and customer experience.

With non-discriminatory access for all service providers and lower barriers of entry, enterprising players with innovative ideas will be able to introduce new services over the Next Gen NBN.

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5) What about the development of the soft infrastructure? How is this being addressed?

The Techno-Strategists Programme, ELITe and National Infocomm Scholarships are geared towards building up Singapore’s infocomm manpower capabilities.

We need to continue to keep a close watch on the regulatory environment, to make sure that our policies keep pace with these developments and that the regulatory framework continues to ensure free and fair competition in the telecoms sector. This is essential if end-users are to benefit from technological advances and new infocomm service delivery and business models.

Another key issue that we need to address is manpower development. We have to be able to attract and nurture infocomm talent that will enable us to drive infocomm developments and innovation.  Initiatives such as the Techno-Strategists Programme, the ELITe talent development programme and the National Infocomm Scholarships are all geared towards building up our infocomm manpower capabilities.

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We have to be able to attract and nurture infocomm talent that will enable us to drive infocomm developments and innovation.

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Between 2002 and 2007, the industry’s infocomm manpower grew at an annual growth rate of about 5 per cent to reach 130,400 in 2007.

Despite the trend of “off-shoring”, and the assumption that regional competition will reduce job opportunities and suppress infocomm salaries, Singapore and countries like the United States continue to create high-value jobs.

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We constantly engage the industry to ensure that our development programmes and assistance schemes contribute to increased growth and competitiveness of the infocomm industry. One effort we recently embarked upon was a partnership with SPRING, to have information and communication technology as one of the technology areas to be considered for funding under the Technology Enterprise Commercialisation Scheme .

Another key area we are focusing on is internationalisation. IDA’s Internationalisation Programme is aimed at helping our iLEs to expand and export their products and services to overseas markets under a unified Infocomm Singapore brand.

IDA’s Internationalisation Programme is aimed at helping our iLEs to expand and export their products under a unified Infocomm Singapore brand.

IDA also supports initiatives to create opportunities for iLEs and industry-leading companies to collaborate and innovate. Most recently in October 2008, we celebrated infocomm innovation and the innovative use of infocomm technology in business through the National Infocomm Awards (NIA). In addition, we want to expose our entrepreneurs, industry professionals, researchers and students to infocomm thought leadership and inspire them to explore the potential of emerging technologies. In line with this, we have launched a new speaker series called Infocomm LIVE!, which complements our existing Distinguished Infocomm Speaker Series.

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We want to expose our entrepreneurs, industry professionals, researchers and students to infocomm thought leadership and inspire them to explore the potential of emerging technologies.

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Going forward, there can be no let-up in our efforts to harness infocomm to strengthen Singapore as an economic hub. We have seen how technology underpins growth and revolutionises entire industries. We have witnessed how it impacts our lives and the lives of people across the globe. We want to constantly keep ahead of these developments in order to create a competitive advantage and prepare ourselves for the next wave of growth.

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