The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will invest up to SGD 100 million to upgrade the Nationwide Broadband Network (NBN), enabling it to remain future-ready, an official news release said on Wednesday.
As per the release, more than 500,000 households are expected to sign up and benefit from higher speeds of up to 10Gbps by 2028.
Digital technologies are developing rapidly, ranging from areas such as artificial intelligence, immersive digital experiences, and autonomous devices. A higher-capacity broadband network provides the foundation to enable these future innovations and opportunities.
“It is important for Singapore to invest ahead in foundational connectivity infrastructure, even as use cases continue to develop and evolve, so as to be future-ready. The upgraded NBN will form the backbone of future applications and innovation, at speeds up to 10 times faster than today,” the release said.
Investing ahead: Future ready digital infrastructure
Singapore’s past investments in the first generation NBN in 2006 laid the foundation for a reliable and high bandwidth connectivity infrastructure. This has in turn supported the rapid pace of digital transformation. These early investments enabled the people and businesses to realise many of the benefits of digital technology that the country enjoy today.
This was also evident during the COVID-19 pandemic where the NBN allowed the whole of Singapore to seamlessly connect and continue to work and learn from home. Today, the NBN runs in all the homes, with more than 85 percent of residential homes on at least 1 Gbps services.
“It has been 18 years since the first NBN investments. It is timely to upgrade the infrastructure, to ensure it continues to be future ready. The investment will support the upgrading of both the backend network and front-end user equipment to enable up to 10Gbps services and innovative offerings, at more competitive prices to businesses and consumers,” read the official release.
When will the upgradation take place?
The upgrade of the NBN will take place from mid-2024 to 2026.
Together with the roll-out of 5G mobile services and faster Wi-Fi networks, the 10G NBN will provide more symmetric end-to-end 10 Gbps connectivity.
This will support maintaining Singapore’s global competitiveness and unlocking further economic opportunities.