More low-income households to get Home Access benefits

Singapore

THE government is expanding the Home Access Programme, which provides low-income households with low-cost broadband connectivity at home, and a tablet, to benefit 16,000 households in addition to the existing 8,000 on the current programme.

Announcing this in Parliament on Monday, at the committee of supply (COS) debate for the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), Janil Puthucheary, Minister of State, MCI, said that the government would also partner private sector organisations, such as POSB, NTUC FairPrice Foundation and NetLink Trust, in these efforts.

The minister noted that while Singapore has the infrastructure in place to support a digital economy, many companies lack the awareness of the possibilities. "In particular, with data science, companies cite a lack of good data, lack of awareness, lack of expertise and regulatory concer…