1 September 2009 - Remarks by Mr Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive (Infrastructure and Services Development Group), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore at the Wireless@SG Speed Upgrade Announcement, The Coffee Connoisseur (NAFA)
Remarks by Mr Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive (Infrastructure and Services Development Group), Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore at the Wireless@SG Speed Upgrade Announcement, The Coffee Connoisseur (NAFA), 1 September 2009
Members of the media, ladies and gentlemen,
1. Today, we launch Wireless@SG’s speed increase from 512kbps to 1 Mbps nationwide. Thank you for coming today to TCC to experience this first-hand. We have lined up a series of demos to illustrate what this speed increase would mean to consumers and businesses. But before that, as you partake of your refreshments, I would like to share with you some updates and exciting enhancements and services that will be available soon on Wireless@SG.
2. Since the Wireless@SG was launched in 2006, the service has gained popularity among many of us in Singapore. Today, we have more than 1.3 million subscribers. From its launch then in 2006, the number of hot spots quickly rose from 600 to 7,500. So on top of greater coverage and free availability in publicly accessible areas such as libraries, fast food outlets, malls, and cafes like the one that we are in today, we now have even faster speeds of 1Mbps. A free software application is currently available to show where Wireless@SG hotspots are.
3. Wireless@SG has helped to catalyse the wireless broadband market, by spurring the demand and adoption of other wireless broadband services in the market, such as 3G and mobile broadband. Consumers are spoilt for choice with the range of offerings in the market today. These developments contribute to the overall growth of Singapore’s Next Gen National Infocomm Infrastructure as envisioned in the iN2015 masterplan. Under the Next Gen NII, Wireless@SG provides the connectivity for “people on the move”, while the Next Gen Nationwide Broadband Network provides the ultra-high speed nationwide network that underpins much of the provision of connectivity for users at home, in the office, and schools. Together, Singapore’s wired and wireless infrastructure, or Next Gen NII, will allow for everyone to stay connected, anytime, anywhere.
4. It is amazing how quickly things on the Internet evolve. And the way we access the Internet has also changed. The typical Internet user has become more sophisticated. Not too long ago, the main usage was simple checking of e-mails and surfing. Today, the user today is engaging in more bandwidth-intensive activities. We have also learnt to access the Internet “on the move”, as devices like Netbooks and Wi-Fi capable phones become more widely available and adopted.
5. This doubling of access speeds to 1Mbps is one small step Wireless@SG has taken to meet such growing demands for speed, for users to better access bandwidth-hungry services such as video streaming, video conferencing and multimedia applications. The speed upgrade will be seamless; users should not expect any service disruptions or need to re-register to enjoy the faster access on Wireless@SG.
6. IDA has partnered with the service providers to enable this service to be available free of charge until 31 March 2013. The emphasis now is to expand on the possibilities of the Wireless@SG with deployment of new services and enhancements for the benefit of consumers and enterprises.
7. It is the first of many exciting enhancements to come for the Wireless@SG service. By January next year, three new capabilities will be made available to all users of Wireless@SG. Firstly, you can look out for the new Seamless and Secure Access (or SSA) feature which will enable you to automatically log-in to Wireless@SG when you switch on your device in range of the network. You will only need to execute the set-up step once only. Secondly, we will make available the Wireless@SG Dashboard, which is a mobile portal for accessing and downloading applications and services. Last but not least, a Central Location-based Engine will be available to all application developers to enable the easy delivery of location based services.
8. While such capabilities are being developed and deployed, our Wireless@SG Operators are also concurrently conducting trials of new consumer and enterprise services, such as cashless payment, remote surveillance. These may be rolled out by the end of this year.
9. Thank you all for your kind attention and your support of today’s launch event.
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