The National Cable Standard Committee (NCSC) has announced its recommended standard for digital video broadcast over cable systems in Singapore. The recommended standard proposed for adoption is the European Digital Video Broadcasting for Cable Systems (DVB-C). This recommendation arises ...
Singapore, 12 April 2001 | For Immediate Release
The National Cable Standard Committee (NCSC) has announced its recommended standard for digital video broadcast over cable systems in Singapore. The recommended standard proposed for adoption is the European Digital Video Broadcasting for Cable Systems (DVB-C). This recommendation arises out of the importance of the cable industry in providing broadband services to the consumers in Singapore, and in view of the rapid developments of digital TV technology around the world. Dr Brian Chen, Chairman NCSC and Chief Technology Officer, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) said, "With one standard for the digital cable television, operators enjoy economies of scale in the market place and consumers will benefit from more competitive pricing. I myself look forward to this benefit."
NCSC is an industry-driven group, formed on 26 May 2000, to identify cable standards and technology development in Singapore, and make recommendations for action. A Technical Working Committee (TWC) was specifically formed under the NCSC, to conduct a study on various cable standards and technologies. The committee comprises of representatives from industries, academia and government agencies (See Annex A and B for list of NCSC and TWC committee members).
TWC's evaluation of the most appropriate digital television standard of transmission for Singapore, was conducted based on the current market status, including considering the maturity of Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) technology of some of the world's major cable operators. In its assessment, the TWC also considered content acquisition, broadband processing, transmission, conditional access, consumer interfaces, interactive channel, billing and operational support, middle-ware and application support, and commercial deployment.
The DVB-C standard was selected as it has a clear edge over Open Cable in most aspects. DVB is a more mature technology that has already established a comprehensive set of international standards and specifications for digital broadcasting. The interoperability of equipment, compatibility of DVB with different transmission media such as terrestrial and satellite, and worldwide implementation of the DVB standard will help to ensure economies of scale and scalability. Since DVB-T (DVB-Terrestrial) has also been adopted for Singapore for free-to-air broadcasting, DVB-C is immediately compatible to present specifications, making content acquisition and distribution easy.
For support of interactive applications, the committee acknowledges that interactivity on television is still in the evolution stage today and recommends leaving the option of the return channel open for commercial considerations.
Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) and IDA have accepted NCSC's recommendation for DVB-C as the digital cable TV standard in Singapore. Ms Ling Pek Ling, Director (Policy & Planning), SBA said, "Digital is the future for broadcasting. DVB-T has been adopted since May 1999 for terrestrial DTV. NCSC's recommendation completes the digital TV standards across terrestrial and cable broadcast in Singapore. With the digital cable standard in place, the cable industry can push ahead with research and development in digital TV to bring more innovative services to cable TV subscribers in Singapore."
Thomas Ee, Senior Vice-President (Broadband Engineering Services), Singapore Cable Vision (SCV) said, "As a key member of the National Cable Standard Committee, SCV is pleased with the technical selection of the DVB-C standard. In SCV's consideration of digital cable as a service, SCV will certainly include in our business case review the adoption of the standard as an extension of the existing SCV MaxTV service. Apart from technical evaluations, SCV has all along advocated the use of open standard technology as the economies of scale derived from its deployment benefits our customers. It is based on such business considerations that we had decided to deploy open standard cable modems for SCV MaxOnline. We are happy that our industry partners and the regulator shares our belief in using open standard technology and look forward to continue working closely with them."
Singaporeans can look forward to more channels, better video and audio quality, and a variety of TV based interactive services such as Internet, Education and Information exchange, with the adoption of DVB-C.
More information on the digital cable television standard in the TWC Summary Report is posted under the heading "Technology Development" on the IDA website (www.imda.gov.sg).
ISSUED BY CORPORATE COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE
About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is a dynamic organisation with an integrated perspective to developing, promoting and regulating info-communications in Singapore. In the fast-changing and converging spheres of telecommunications, information and media technologies, IDA will be the catalyst for change and growth in Singapore's evolution into a vibrant global info-communications technology centre.
For media clarification, please contact:
Shama Nair
Manager, Corporate Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: +65 6211-1720
Fax: +65 6211-2227
Email: shama_nair@imda.gov.sg
Dulcie Chan
Senior Manager, Corporate Communication
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
Tel: +65 211-1999
Fax: +65 211-2227
Email: dulcie_chan@imda.gov.sg
ANNEX A: NCSC Members' List
The National Cable Standards Committee (NCSC) chaired by IDA's Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dr Brian Chen, comprises 15 members from key industry vendors, cable operator, academia and regulatory bodies. The committee has established a Term of Reference (TOR) to chart the direction for cable's technical standards in Singapore. Details on the TOR can be found in the 1 June 2000 press release on the IDA website.
| No. | Name | Designation | Organisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr Brian Chen, Chairman | Chief Technology Officer (CTO) | IDA Singapore |
| 2 | Lim Choon Sai, Member | Director, Regulations | IDA Singapore |
| 3 | Lim Chay Yong, Member | Assistant Director, Technology Direction | IDA Singapore |
| 4 | Lim Pek Ling, Member | Director, Policy & Planning | Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) |
| 5 | Lim Chin Siang, Member | Head, Technology | Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) |
| 6 | Philip Tan, Member | Executive VP, Operations | Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) |
| 7 | Thomase Ee, Member | Senior VP, Broadband Engineering Services | Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) |
| 8 | David Neo, Member | Manager, Consulting Engineering Services | Cisco Systems (USA) Pte Ltd |
| 9 | Brian Gibbs, Member | General Manager, BCS, ASEAN and ANZ | Motorola Electronics Pte Ltd |
| 10 | Steve Yong, Member | VP, Asia Pacific Operations | Redback Networks Inc. |
| 11 | A/P Chua Kee Chaing, Member | Division Head, Computer Engineering Department of E&C Engineering | National University of Singapore (NUS) |
| 12 | A/P Ong Jin Teong, Member | Associate Professor, School of EEE | Nanyang Technological University (NTU) |
| 13 | Luc Vantalon, Member | VP, Business Development - DTV | SCM Microsystems, Inc. |
| 14 | William H. Katherman, Member | VP & Managing Director, Asia Pacific Region | Scientific Atlanta (S'pore) Pte Ltd |
| 15 | Steven Luys Sir., Member | Director of Sales, Southeast Asia-Pacific | BarcoNet Sdn Bhd |
ANNEX B: List of NCSC Technical Working Committee (TWC) Members
| No. | Name | Designation | Organisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thomas Ee, Chairman | Senior VP, Broadband Engineering Services | Singapore Cable Vision Ltd |
| 2 | Tay Seng Choon, Member | Senior Manager, Master Control Broadband Engineering Services | Singapore Cable Vision Ltd |
| 3 | Foo Ming Jap, Member | Manager, Network Broadband Engineering Services | Singapore Cable Vision Ltd |
| 4 | Desmond Poon, Member | Manager, New Services Broadband Engineering Services | Singapore Cable Vision Ltd |
| 5 | Lu Jin, Member | Senior Engineer, New Services Broadband Engineering | Singapore Cable Vision Ltd |
| 6 | Narisa N.Y. Chu, Member | DNS Standards Broadband Communications Sector | Motorola Inc. |
| 7 | Lee Peng Chong, Member | Program Manager Broadband Communications Sector - Asia Pacific | Motorola Electronics Pte Ltd |
| 8 | Kelvin Wong, Member | Regional Technical Sales Manager - Asia Pacific | Motorola Electronics Pte Ltd |
| 9 | Juha L Nieminen, Member | Technical Manager Nokia Home Communications - Asia Pacific | Nokia Pte Ltd |
| 10 | Dale Hoefer, Member | Regional Sales Manager | Scientific Atlanta (Singapore) Pte Ltd |
| 11 | James Sinclair, Member | Strategic Operation Director | NTL |
| 12 | Keith Jennings, Member | Telecoms Development Director - Asia Pacific | NTL |
| 13 | Norman Lim, Member | Technical Consultant Service Provider LoB Asia | Cisco Systems (USA) Pte Ltd |
| 14 | Ong Beng Hui, Member | Consulting System Engineer, Singapore | Cisco Systems (USA) Pte Ltd |
| 15 | Pan Feng, Edward., Member | Research Fellow | NTU Centre For Signal Processing |
| 16 | Lim Keng Pang, Member | Research Engineer | NTU Centre For Signal Processing |
| 17 | Ng Chin Bong, Member | Director, Application Engineering | SCM Microsystems (Asia) Pte Ltd |
| 18 | Steven Luys ir., Member | Director of Sales, Southeast Asia-Pacific | BarcoNet Sdn Bhd |
| 19 | Peter Avis, Member | Product Manager | BarcoNet Sdn Bhd |
| 20 | Lee Siak Hong, Member | Sales Manager | BarcoNet Sdn Bhd |
| 21 | Lim Siak HonChin Siang, Member | Head, Technology | Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA) |
| 22 | Lim Yew Gee, Member | Consultant, Technology Direction | Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) |
| 23 | Lim Kian Soon, Member | Associate Consultant Technology Direction | Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) |
| 24 | Ong Kian Lin, Member | Associate Consultant Technology Direction | Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) |
| 25 | Kapil Sharma, Member | Consultant, Network Technologies | Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) |
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