5G success needs public-private and cross-border partnerships: Iswaran

WORKING together and building up demand are key to the success of Singapore's 5G and digital ambitions.

That's according to Minister for Communications and Information S Iswaran, who spoke at the Milken Institute Asia Summit on Wednesday.

Singapore looks forward to "working with all global partners from the public and private sectors" in its 5G efforts, he said, while stressing the need for cross-border partnerships and interoperable systems.

Meanwhile, Mr Iswaran also called collaborations across industry, community and government "critical in ensuring a secure and resilient 5G infrastructure and compelling use cases".

That's as he noted in his prepared remarks that "the demand side" of the 5G market - that is, developing viable use cases for the technology - is as important as supplying infrastructure.

The minister added that "both the supply and demand-sides must be undergirded by robust security arrangements" and touted the Republic's security-by-design and vendor diversity requirements for resilience.

"Singapore's vision is to be a global front-runner for innovation in 5G applications and services," he said.

Mr Iswaran also reaffirmed that Singapore is on track with plans for two standalone networks, set to cover at least half the country by end-2022 and the whole island by end-2025.

Noting that Asian cities such as Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo and Shenzhen have already introduced 5G, he promised that "Singapore too is investing in the development of a nationwide secure and resilient, world-class 5G communications network".

Licences to build and run nationwide 5G standalone networks were awarded earlier this year to mainboard-listed Singtel, and to a joint venture between mainboard-listed StarHub and Keppel Corp-owned M1.