Internet in Singapore

In Singapore, there are more than 4,114,500 internet subscribers (as of June 2008) [cite web | publisher = Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore | title = Statistics on Telecom Services for 2008 (Jan - Jun) | url = http://www.ida.gov.sg/Publications/20080212114723.aspx] . There are four major Internet Service Providers in Singapore, namely, SingNet, StarHub Internet, Pacnet and MobileOne. Over the years, the Singapore Government have been promoting the usage of broadband internet access, as part of its Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015) masterplan.

Singapore, as a small densely populated island nation and a pioneer, continues to be one of the few countries in the World in which broadband internet access is readily available to just about any would-be user anywhere in the country, with connectivity of over 99%.

Beginnings

For the general public, the Internet in Singapore first started out as Teleview-Singnet around 1994. Subscribers connected to Teleview, a now-defunct an interactive bulletin-board type service by Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), via ordinary 9600-14400 kbit/s modems. Subscribers paid for this service at 1 cent per minute, on top of telephone line charges. From Teleview, subscribers were given access to the internet via a text-only terminal; email was accessed by Pine, and webpages were viewed by Lynx. Subsequently, Teleview was rendered obsolete, and SingNet started offering to the Internet via SLIP/PPP over modem.

Dial-up access

Access to the Internet via Teleview-Singnet evolved to a full-fledged dial-up service known as Singnet, a subsidiary of SingTel. The formerly-private TechNet network was purchased by Pacific Internet. A third ISP was Cyberway; it was eventually purchased by StarHub.

Broadband access

In a government-led initiative to connect the island in a high-speed broadband network using various mediums such as fibre, DSL and cable, the Singapore ONE project was formally announced in June 1996, and commercially launched in June 1998. By December 1998, Singapore ONE is available nationwide with the completion of the national fibre optics network.

In 1997, commercial trials for Singapore Telecommunications' (SingTel) ATM-based "SingTel Magix" service were undertaken in March, before being launched in June. Also in June, Singapore Cable Vision commenced trails for its cable modem based services, before being commercially deployed in December 1999. Singtel's ADSL service was subsequently rolled out on a nation-wide scale in August 2000.

Current developments

In January 2001, the Broadband Media Association was formed to promote the broadband industry. By April the same year there were 6 broadband internet providers, with the total number of broadband users exceeding 300,000. Pacific Internet introduced wireless broadband services in October 2001.

In 2006, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) introduced a programme named "Wireless@SG". It is part of its Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative. Users can enjoy free, both in-door and outdoor seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 512 kbit/s at most public areas.In the same year, MobileOne introduced its broadband services.

ISPs

Dial-up services providers

*SingNet (Speed: 56kbit/s, 112kbit/s (using multilink), mysingtel)
*StarHub (Speed: 56kbit/s)
*Pacnet (Speed: 56kbit/s)

ADSL providers

* SingNet (Plans: 1 Mbit/s, 3 Mbit/s, 8 Mbit/s, 10 Mbit/s, 25 Mbit/s, JetPack, Magix)
* StarHub (Plans: Various but only available to Business users in the CBD area)
* Pacnet (Plans: 512 kbit/s)

=Cable broadband providers =

* StarHub (Plans: 2 Mbit/s, 8 Mbit/s, 12 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s)
* Pacnet (Plans: 8 Mbit/s, 12 Mbit/s, 30 Mbit/s)
* MobileOne (Plans: 10 Mbit/s, 15 Mbit/s, 30 Mbit/s, 100 Mbit/s)

Wireless Broadband (HSDPA and Wimax) providers

* MobileOne (Plans: 1 Mbit/s, 2 Mbit/s, 3.6 Mbit/s)
* Qmax (Plans: 256kbit/s 512kbit/s, 1 Mbit/s, 1.5Mbit/s)
* StarHub (Plans: 2Mbit/s, 7.2Mbit/s)
* Pacnet (Plans: 512 kbit/s)
* SingTel (Plans: 1 Mbit/s, 2 Mbit/s, 3.6 Mbit/s)

=Wireless@SG (Wi-Fi) operators (Up to 512 kbit/s) =

* [http://www.icellnetwork.com/corp/index.htm iCELL]
* [http://www.qmax.com.sg/ Qmax]
* SingTel
* StarHub

References

External links

* [http://www.ida.gov.sg/home/index.aspx IDA Singapore]