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Winners Singapore powered by smart communications An Intelligent Nation, A Global City, Powered by Infocomm describes the vision of Singapore s Intelligent Nation 2015 Plan (in2015), and exemplifies the smart country s wisdom and commitment in telecommunications. By Yang Weimin Editor: Pan Tao pantao@huawei.com 27
One of the major economic powerhouses and logistics hubs in the Asia Pacific region, Singapore has a top-ranking broadband penetration rate and lower tariffs for fixed, mobile and broadband Internet services. Since the launch of the in2015 plan in 2006, their communications industry has grown in importance to become a mainstay and driver of the nation s economic growth. Many businesses have dramatically reduced operating costs and outpaced the global financial crisis by virtue of new communication technologies and a rich set of information services. Citing this success, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, long a champion of the infocomm industry provides us the following statistics for 2008: Boosted by the in2015 plan, the revenue of the infocomm industry grew 12.4% to reach 58.1 billion SGD (around 41.7 billion USD). Infocomm export market continues to account for a greater portion of overall industry revenue, at 61% to hit 35.44 billion SGD (around 25.4 billion USD). The number of infocomm manpower employed increased by 6.6% to reach 139,000. 90% of the nation s businesses that employ 200 or more people have their own websites, with an Internet penetration rate of 100% and 94% of the families with children own at least one computer. The secret to their success lies behind innovative and progressive thinking by Singapore s communications industry and the government. Strong government support There are 40 telecom equipment vendors and over 1,000 telecom service providers even though Singapore is small with a land area of only 700 km 2, and a population of 4 million. Benefiting from the government s telecom regulation policy that encourages free competition, the telecom market has long thrived on a level playing field for both small- and medium-sized companies. Remarkably, as the government s chief information officer (CIO), the IDA is playing a leading role in promoting the nation s infocomm industry and technological advancement. It remains committed to creating a sound business environment and encouraging fair and effective competition in the telecom industry. The in2015 plan beginning in 2006 seeks to extend the infocomm s reach to various sectors. Its objectives are to double the value-add of the infocomm industry, triple its export revenue and create 80,000 new jobs among others. As part of the infrastructure under the in2015 plan, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) will support all of the nation s existing and future information communication services, including voice, highspeed broadband Internet access, IPTV, video on demand (VOD), enterprise private lines and mobile broadband services. The government has invested 1 billion SGD (around 719 million USD) in the Next Gen NBN, Singapore s national information highway, hoping to get every household passed and achieve fiber to home (FTTH) with 100Mbps for individuals and 1Gbps for enterprises. So far, the Next Gen NBN has covered 60% of Singapore s territory and will increase its coverage to 95% by June 2012, putting an end to any digital divide. Leading with broadband services As the world s first open access FTTH network, the Next Gen NBN project provides a good example for next-generation networks, open fiber access, transition of fixed networks to All- IP networking and ICT/FMC applications. The project has received wide attention from across the industry chain since its launch in 2006. In April 2009, after three years of competitive bidding and bid evaluation, StarHub was selected to establish the Operating Company of the Next Gen NBN. Incorporated on 14 April 2009, Nucleus Connect is responsible for designing, building and operating the active infrastructure of the network. It will offer comprehensive and flexible services that will help Retail Service Providers select and deliver broadband connectivity services to their target markets quickly and seamlessly, bringing a more enriching experience to the end users. As Singapore s second largest telecom operator, StarHub is also the only operator that can provide individuals and enterprises with a full range of services that span information, communications, and entertainment over fixed, cable TV, mobile 28
Winners Inspired by the success of Singapore s Next Gen NBN project, Malaysia s HSBB, Australia s NBN, and New Zealand s NBN projects are all gathering speed, especially under the spur of the financial crisis. networks and Internet. In recent years, StarHub has been growing fast and getting more market share, especially after its launch of the country s first 3G Femtocell-based Home Zone service that is highly competitive in terms of performance, price, and technology. For households that use a combination of StarHub s mobile communications and fixed broadband services, Home Zone offers an integrated and unified solution that facilitates subscribers usage and increases the operator s differentiated competitiveness in Singapore s hot telecom market. Oriented toward fixed and mobile convergence, the Next Gen NBN is to carry all of StarHub s broadband services and possibly even broadband services from other operators across the nation in the future. StarHub has attached high importance to network bearer and evolution capabilities and service bearer quality since the outset of network planning. To guarantee a successful launch of services and shorten the time to market, StarHub gives priority to a vendors delivery capability. After rigorous service and technology evaluation among leading vendors, StarHub finally selected Huawei s All-IP network solution, a solution combined with unified network management, FMC bearer, and EOT service capabilities to optimally match StarHub s Next Gen NBN requirements. Notably, the MPLS HQoS technology unique to Huawei routers adapts well to business scenarios for wholesale services. By assuring bandwidth quality for every enterprise s VPN on the backbone network, the solution has largely revolutionized enterprise VPN services, helping StarHub deliver quality private line services for enterprises and attract high-value customers such as banks. Huawei s unique MPLS HQoS feature is exactly what we want, commented a StarHub expert. The feature provides a holistic mechanism for QoS scheduling. In addition to five-level HQoS scheduling that meets the varied access requirements of various users, the mechanism supports MPLS HQoS for networking that provides QoS capabilities for services, such as MPLS-based point-to-point and multipoint-tomultipoint private line and circuit emulations services. Combined with traffic engineering and bandwidth constraint capabilities, the solution can guarantee QoS for the Next Gen NBN bearer and improve network resource allocation. With flexible L2/L3 capabilities, the solution also helps StarHub deploy and operate the Next Gen NBN smoothly, enabling StarHub to adopt L2 or L3 technology depending on various service requirements. For example, L2 solutions apply to high-speed Internet access for individuals, while L3 solutions suit IPTV/VOD/VPN applications. These solutions are more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective than units where all services are carried at L2 or L3 only. In addition to supporting and fully reusing existing services and equipment, these solutions can support high-bandwidth applications like broadband videos, enterprise VPN lines, and mobile broadband services. Expansion is smooth, reducing service downtime during cutover and upgrade, with improved user experience, satisfaction and loyalty. The massive construction of this national broadband network tests operators in terms of operational savvy and prowess. From the beginning of the Next Gen NBN project, Huawei has focused on addressing StarHub s concerns, understanding and responding proactively to its core requirements, designing a business model with the operator and customizing a solution for the operator. This 29
has laid a solid foundation for Huawei to fully accommodate StarHub s requirements in terms of the business model, roadmap, technical indices, delivery, and service in later stages of the project. In the next few years, Huawei and StarHub will join forces to complete the Next Gen NBN project. Growing through innovation Singapore has been devoted to building an innovation-oriented knowledge economy and attaining the same goal for communications development, be it network architecture or services. In terms of network architecture, Singapore s Next Gen NBN is the world s first national broadband network based on open access architecture. As stipulated by the Singaporean government, the Next Gen NBN value chain at different layers will be separate from one another. In other words, passive infrastructure providers, active equipment operators and retail service providers all operate independently from one another to preclude monopoly or unfair competition. This has reshaped the vertical operation model which is traditionally adopted for the industry. Coupled with other regulatory requirements for operators, such as the obligations of a government-set price and universal service, the government expects to create a fair and efficient platform, which grants any competitive service provider access to the market at an appropriate price so that they can invest in service and application innovations. This is also a key enabler in boosting competition and vitalizing the retail service market. In terms of services, the government has launched more than 1,600 online government services available to Singaporeans 24/7 by working closely with the telecom industry. This has greatly saved the time and resources for Singaporean residents to interact with the government. Take online licensing for example. The service includes 71 business licenses for enterprises from 19 government departments. For example, 80% of the nation s residents who want to start a business are able to apply for a license online anytime, anywhere and the average processing time has been shortened from 21 to 8 days. All Singaporeans, including the elderly, the disabled, the poor and the less-educated, will be given access to a broad range of services by 2010. These services include high-definition videoconferencing, remote medical treatment and education, and random grid computing. As part of the initiative, the NEU PC Plus Programme supports low-income household with school-going children to own a brand new computer bundled with software and Internet access at an affordable price. So far, the project has benefited more than 7,000 low-income households with school-going children. It is the Singaporean government s vision to boost the economy, create benefits for residents, and strengthen their position as a major hub in the Asia-Pacific region through enhanced communications. This vision is gradually coming true as the in2015 plan bears more and more fruit in Singapore. In addition, the plan has served as a showcase for neighboring countries. Inspired by the success of Singapore s Next Gen NBN project, Malaysia s HSBB, Australia s NBN, and New Zealand s NBN projects are all gathering speed, especially under the spur of the financial crisis. 30