The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) has liberalised the provision of international Internet Exchange services in Singapore. With immediate effect, any interested party can apply to TAS for an Internet Exchange Service ...
Singapore, 22 June 1999 | For Immediate Release
The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) has liberalised the provision of international Internet Exchange services in Singapore. With immediate effect, any interested party can apply to TAS for an Internet Exchange Service Provider (IXSP) licence to provide international Internet Exchange services in Singapore. This was announced by the Minister for Communications & Information Technology, Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, when he gave the opening address at the Opening Ceremony for CommunicAsia99 at the Singapore Expo.
Under this open market approach, any interested party who can meet TAS' licensing conditions will be able to obtain an IXSP licence. The duration of the licence will be 3 years, renewable for 3-year terms thereafter. The licence fee will comprise an initial one-time fee of $50,000 and an annual recurrent fee of 1% of the audited annual gross turnover (AGTO), subject to a minimum of $10,000.
This free market entry approach for licensing IXSPs is similar to the approach used in the licensing of Internet Access Service Providers (IASPs) announced in October last year. TAS will take a free market entry approach to license more players for particular market segments when the timing is right, depending on the stage of development. For the international Internet Exchange services market, TAS has assessed that there is room for growth and development, and that it is timely to open up the IXSP market. This move will also inject new stimulus, skills and expertise into the industry, and will provide an excellent opportunity for foreign players to bring in their services and expertise to Singapore.
The move to open up the IXSP market in Singapore will enhance Singapore's attractiveness as a portal for high-speed access to the Internet backbone. Asian IASPs will have more means to interconnect via Singapore and this will encourage the development of an intra-Asian Internet network. In the longer term, the establishment of regional Internet hubs and the increased build-up of Internet infrastructure within the Asia Pacific would accelerate the development of an Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure.
TAS' move to open up the market for international Internet Exchange services in Singapore represents yet another significant step towards achieving our goal of becoming an Internet Hub and Information Society. TAS will continue to review the market developments and further liberalise the telecommunication industry where necessary to maintain Singapore's competitiveness.
Background Information for Editors:
International Internet Exchanges (IXs) are physical interconnection sites for Internet Access Service Providers (IASPs) to access the global Internet backbone and exchange traffic with one another. Such exchanges will aggregate IASPs' traffic before they are sent via leased circuits to the US Internet backbone and the regional countries, and reduces the need for each IASP to set up its own direct links. This will translate to lower cost and more efficient bandwidth utilisation for the IASPs, as well as faster connection times for their Internet users. Singapore currently has one IIXSP, Singapore Telecom.
For details on licence application, please refer to Guidelines on licence application for the Provision of International Internet Exchange Services in Singapore.
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