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Plans for the network, announced two years ago, have shaken up the market, forcing telcos to offer faster and cheaper broadband deals. -- ST PHOTO: ALAN LIM
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THE Government will spend up to $1 billion to help build much-awaited cyber highways that will let users go online 10 times faster.
It announced this on Monday when called a second tender to develop the network, which will be rolled out islandwide by 2015.
The winning bidder will run the telecommunication switches in the network and get up to $250 million in public funds.
The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) had earlier called for a separate tender in December to lay telecom cables for this network.
The winner of this first tender, which is ongoing, will receive public funds of up to $750 million.
Together, the two tenders will bring public spending to as much as $1 billion for the ambitious project.
The funds will help defray the total cost of the network, which industry estimates put at several billions of dollars.
Plans for the network, announced two years ago, have shaken up the market, forcing telcos to offer faster and cheaper broadband deals.
Analysts also expect the Next-Generation National Broadband Network to bring Singapore on par with broadband leaders like Hong Kong, which already has such a fast network.
IDA chairman Yong Ying-I said on Monday that it expects to award the second tender to a single winner, instead of several parties.
Local telcos SingTel, StarHub and MobileOne are among 11 firms pre-qualified to bid, but all three said on Monday they would review the details before acting.
The first tender will be awarded in the third quarter of this year, and the second one in the first quarter of next year.
The separation is aimed at preventing one telco from dominating the scene.
The winner of each bid has to resell its network capacity to third parties, to spur more competition.
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