S$30m fund launched to speed up 5G adoption and commercialisation

Singapore

THE Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) on Wednesday launched a S$30 million fund to accelerate the adoption and commercialisation of 5G solutions.

The fund, part of IMDA's 5G Innovation Programme, will support efforts by enterprises to adopt 5G solutions that address sector challenges or enterprise-level needs. It will also help solutions-providers and technology-developers commercialise 5G solutions to make 5G benefits more accessible to companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises, IMDA said in a statement.

For instance, 5G will help to significantly improve the efficiency and reliability of automated guided vehicles in the Pasir Panjang Terminal, driving down its latency by at least six times, compared to 4G, said PSA Singapore.

PSA also said that by the end of the last phase of testing in 2040, Tuas Mega Port will have around 2,000 automated guided vehicles under the 5G network, up from between 300 and 400 under the current 4G network; this will reduce the need for some 8,000 drivers.

IMDA chief executive Lew Chuen Hong said the statutory board is nurturing a 5G ecosystem that goes beyond infrastructure; it will include industry partnerships to develop 5G talent, as well as solutions and services to drive 5G adoption.

"5G is a key enabler for Singapore's digital future, and I am encouraged to see our 5G partnerships with industry demonstrating good results, such as through more efficient and reliable port operations, and good progress on the ongoing trials," he said.

The IMDA previously supported 5G innovation use cases such as cloud gaming, urban mobility, smart estates, industry 4.0 and maritime operations. In 2019, it partnered maritime sector leads Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore and PSA Singapore to identify problems and explore how 5G technologies can be applied in the maritime sector.

IMDA said it will also support a new use case by M1, Continental Automotive Singapore and JTC to trial the use of autonomous mobile robots and construction-safety analytics using 5G.

The collaboration will dig deeper into operating these robots for last-mile delivery of food and goods to support the flourishing e-commerce industry, as well as to drive Singapore to progress towards a global innovation hub for connected mobility.

Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran said it is important for Singapore's digital infrastructure to support the digitalisation of the nation's economy.

"We are on track to have a nationwide 5G rollout by 2025, and 50 per cent coverage by the end of 2022, and this is important as that will create the baseline infrastructure for which we can build up all the applications we are looking for," he said.