Telcos to be called upon for 10Gbps fibre network upgrade in 2024

THE Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced that it will work with the telecoms industry to upgrade the nation’s existing Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN) for broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps.

The Digital Connectivity Blueprint noted that the nation’s connectivity infrastructure must be built to support consistent user experience in both speeds and latencies so that devices can be “handed over” seamlessly across different network types such as Wi-Fi and 5G. This could then pave the way for innovations in areas such as logistics.

It added that 98 per cent of homes have broadband access and that 1 Gbps plans, which cost as little as S$30 per month, are the standard in homes.

When the NBN was set up, the government invested S$1 billion to support the building of its core network infrastructure and active transmission layer.

Currently, NetLink Trust designs, builds, owns and operates the NBN’s passive fibre network infrastructure.

NetLink, formally a subsidiary of Singtel , raised S$2.3 billion at its initial public offering in July 2017. Singtel held a 24.99 per cent stake in the subsidiary after the offering, in line with its regulatory undertaking to divest its stake below 25 per cent before April 2018.

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In addition to the network upgrade, the government has allocated 500MHz of extra radio frequency spectrum in the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi use, to be deployed using Wi-Fi 6E technology.

Wi-Fi 6E enables speeds of up to 9.6 Gbps, which is double that of previous-generation Wi-Fi technology.