Singapore to invest up to S$100 million in 10 Gbps fibre network upgrade

THE Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is investing as much as S$100 million to upgrade Singapore’s Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN), such that it will run on higher speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps).

The investment will support the upgrading of both NBN’s back-end network as well as front-end user equipment, which will take place from mid-2024 to 2026.

This will enable the provision of higher-speed services and offerings at more competitive prices to businesses and consumers, said IMDA on Wednesday (Feb 21).

“As part of the funding application, (telcos) have to tell us how they intend to roll out the network nationwide, what sort of plans they are going to give, and how they are going to excite the market to bring consumers in,” an IMDA spokesperson said at a media briefing.

The spokesperson said the funding should be seen as a “catalyst” to help the market and industry move towards providing 10 Gbps services. More than 500,000 households are expected to sign up and benefit from the higher-speed NBN by 2028.

Communications and Information Minister Josephine Teo said that while it is difficult to predict how technology will develop, Singapore still needs to be prepared and build the infrastructure ahead of time.

“We just have to try and make a best effort as far as understanding what the trends are going to be, and then (make) sure that our digital infrastructure is future-proofed,” she said.

Noting that it has been 18 years since Singapore began investing in the first-generation NBN, IMDA said it is timely to upgrade the infrastructure to ensure it “continues to be future-ready”.

While fibre network provider NetLink NBN Trust will be expected to upgrade its central offices to house the upgraded hardware, which generates more heat, the government currently has no plans to provide funding to the trust.

“It’s about making available... largely cooling capacity, so we didn’t think it was significant. It is really something that we think, as part of upgrading costs, the market can take,” the spokesperson said.

In November 2023, IMDA reduced the monthly recurring fee that NetLink could charge for residential and non-building address points, as part of its review of the trust’s pricing terms every five years.

In response to queries from The Business Times, a NetLink spokesperson said that the provider will incur capital expenditure to increase its power and cooling capacity in its co-location facilities within its central offices to support the network upgrades. It added that the pace of the investment will depend on telcos’ deployment timetables.

“We do not expect any material impact on our operating cash flow due to this upgrade. Our distribution remains well-supported by our operating cash flow,” the spokesperson said.

IMDA said it estimates more than 85 per cent of residential homes are on services of at least 1 Gbps today.

However, households appear to have difficulty in fully taking advantage of the 1 Gbps that they have access to.

According to data from network intelligence company Ookla, Singapore’s median fixed broadband download speeds stood at 277.57 Mbps, while upload speeds stood at 222.66 Mbps.

When asked if the regulator would consider dedicating funds towards the upgrading of household network infrastructure such as routers, the IMDA spokesperson said it is not currently looking at funding better Wi-Fi equipment for consumers as “there is market momentum” for such products.

The spokesperson also noted that it has opened up additional spectrum for use with the Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 standards. Both standards take advantage of the 6 gigahertz spectrum to deliver faster wireless speeds, albeit at shorter ranges.

The network upgrade will be focused on households instead of businesses, as business district users tend to use different specialised networks and services.

Lee Poh Seng, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, said: “Upgrading to a 10 Gbps network infrastructure involves substantial financial investments, both for the broader network upgrade and for the end-user equipment, (such as) switches.”

He noted that telcos in other countries have set aside billions to upgrade their networks, while network switches needed to take advantage of such speeds in homes could cost hundreds of dollars.

“This investment signifies a major step towards future-proofing Singapore’s digital infrastructure, acknowledging the complexities and costs associated with such a significant upgrade​​,” he added.

Telcos cheer move

In response to the announcement, a StarHub spokesperson said that the telco has seen a “steady increase” in adoption of its 10 Gbps service, which has been on trial since February 2023 and costs S$69.95 or more per month.

The company added that it is essential that telcos have ready access to NetLink’s central offices, as part of the network upgrade initiative.

“This involves partnering with NetLink Trust to conduct hardware upgrades while minimising disruptions or downtime to customers’ home connectivity,” the spokesperson said.

“As 10Gbps broadband is a relatively new technology, there’s a necessity for suppliers of customer-premise equipment, (such as) optical network terminals and Wi-Fi routers, to reach optimal cost levels – a process that may require some time to mature,” they added.

Singtel Singapore chief executive Ng Tian Chong said the company has been offering residential 10 Gbps fibre broadband services since 2016. Checks by BT found listings for the service going for S$86 per month.

“We will work closely with IMDA and other key stakeholders, including equipment manufacturers and application developers, to encourage more households to adopt 10Gbps broadband services,” he said.

Simba CEO Richard Tan said the company believes the upgrade will support “meaningful use cases” in areas such as education, virtual reality, high-definition entertainment and home security.

“We wholeheartedly support this government initiative as it will hasten our transition to 10 Gbps NBN, with an emphasis on symmetric end-to-end 10 Gbps connectivity,” he said.

A spokesperson for M1 said that the telco welcomes the government’s support for the network upgrade, as it will enhance network connectivity for its customers.

The announcement by IMDA came just days after Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Budget speech on Feb 16 that the government was aiming to enable mass-market access to broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps in the second half of the decade.

“This also ensures that our connectivity infrastructure will be able to support technologies (such as) artificial intelligence and immersive media, as they become more pervasive in the future,” said Wong.