Singapore - Broadband Market and Broadcasting Services

Synopsis

Already boasting an elaborate internet network, with around 100% of internet households having broadband access Singapore has certainly not allowed itself to become complacent. The island state remains keen to build on its excellent technology base. The government has continued to maintain a strong commitment to making broadband internet access widely available to the population and at the same time lifting the quality of the access. Apart from the excellent infrastructure available to support broadband services, the administration and the operators have put a major effort into expanding these services and increasing the ease of access, one such initiative being the Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure and the related Next Generation National Broadband Network.

For some years now Singapore’s TV broadcasting sector has been feeling the impact of convergence. The liberalisation of the media industry in Singapore was triggered a decade ago when the then Ministry of Information and the Arts announced that broadcasting operators could ‘look at’ the telecommunications sector and telecommunications companies could ‘look at’ the broadcasting sector. The regulatory regime was changed to facilitate this. Whilst the initial response was slow, over time there has been substantial development and the broadcasting sector has been given a fresh boost with the advent of new platforms such as internet protocol television.

This report reviews the state of Singapore’s broadband market and provides market statistics. In also looking at the broadcasting sector, the report presents the changes in the digital media market and the impact on the major players and customers.

Key developments:

SingTel launched LTE network; Major mobile operators start dropping their mobile broadband prices; rollout of NGNBN continues; however, regulator intervenes in construction because of slow rate of rollout by OpenNet.

Companies covered in this report include:

SingTel; StarHub, MobileOne (M1), OpenNet, Nucleus Connect, SP Telecom, Qmax Communications.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Broadband market
  • 2.1 Overview
  • 2.2 Background
  • 2.3 Broadband and internet statistics
  • 2.4 Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure (Next Gen NII)
    • 2.4.1 Background
    • 2.4.2 Network company (NetCo)
    • 2.4.3 Operating company (OpCo)
    • 2.4.4 Rollout
    • 2.4.5 Analysis – Singapore’s national broadband network
  • 2.5 Broadband service providers
  • 2.6 Broadband technologies
    • 2.6.1 Cable modems
    • 2.6.2 Digital subscriber line (DSL)
    • 2.6.3 Powerline broadband
    • 2.6.4 Fibre-to-the-home (FttH)
    • 2.6.5 Wireless broadband
  • 2.7 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
• 3. Broadcasting market
  • 3.1 Overview
  • 3.2 Regulatory environment
    • 3.2.1 Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA)
    • 3.2.2 Media Development Authority (MDA)
  • 3.3 Regulatory developments
  • 3.4 Convergence
  • 3.5 Digital TV
    • 3.5.1 Adoption of DVB standard
    • 3.5.2 Transition to DTV
  • 3.6 Cable and pay TV
    • 3.6.1 Market overview
    • 3.6.2 SCV/StarHub merger
  • 3.7 Satellite TV
  • 3.8 Interactive TV (iTV)
  • 3.9 Free-to-air (FTA) TV
    • 3.9.1 Market overview
    • 3.9.2 Media Corporation of Singapore (MediaCorp)
    • 3.9.3 MediaWorks
    • 3.9.4 Merging of MediaCorp and MediaWorks operations
  • 3.10 Internet protocol TV (IPTV)
    • 3.10.1 SingNet’s mio TV
    • 3.10.2 StarHub
• 4. Related reports

• Table 1 – Broadband subscribers – 1999 - 2012
• Table 2 – Overview of broadband/household subscribers – 2011
• Table 3 – Broadband subscribers by sector – 2011
• Table 4 – Broadband market share – by access type – 2011
• Table 5 – Overview of internet market – 2011
• Table 6 –Internet users – 1996 - 2012
• Table 7 – Fixed internet subscribers – 1997 - 2012
• Table 8 – Registered domain names – February 2012
• Table 9 – Fixed broadband subscribers, annual change, market share by major providers – 2011
• Table 10 – Cable modem subscribers – 2000 - 2011
• Table 11 – DSL subscribers – 2000 - 2011
• Table 12 – Wireless broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2011
• Table 13 – Key broadcasting statistics – 2011
• Table 14 – Broadcasting – homes, subscribers and sector revenue – 1996 - 2010
• Table 15 – Cable TV subscribers – transition from analogue to digital - 2002 - 2009
• Table 16 – SingTel’s mio TV subscribers – 2007 - 2011

• Chart 1 – Fixed broadband subscribers – DSL and cable modem – 2001 - 2011

• Exhibit 1 – Structure of National Broadband Network
• Exhibit 2 – Licensed satellite broadcasters