ICT Profile - Singapore

Total population	4,131,200
Total residents	3,319,100
Key economic sectors	Manufacturing, construction, utilities, wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants, transport and communications, financial services, business services
Literacy in the national language(s)	93.2%
Literacy in English	71% (2000)
Computer ownership per 100 inhabitants	47.0% (2000)
Telephone lines per 100 inhabitants	47 (2002)
Internet hosts per 10,000 inhabitants	82.3 (2002)
Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants	48 (2002)
Cell phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants	74.7 (2002)
Number of websites in English and other languages	339,878 (2002)
National bandwidth to and from the country	21 Tbps submarine capacity and direct Internet connectivity to over 30 countries, 2,249 Mbps international Internet connectivity

ICT Developments

ICT Policy

Mobile teledensity — 81.7%
Internet penetration — 43.5%
Almost 100% broadband in homes, most public and commercial buildings have broadband access
Common application — Singapore ONE
Use of Smart Cards, biometrics and pilot applications
Successful e-government and e-citizen initiatives
Connected Singapore, 2003
Fixed-line teledensity — 45.7%

Ministry of Information, Communications and Art
National Computerization Plan, 1980—implemented by National Computer Board
National IT Plan 1986
IT2000 (1992)—vision for Intelligent Island concept
Connected Singapore Master Plan (launched March, 2003)
Objectives of Infocomm 21 — new vision of twenty-first century
- Infocomm Hub
- Business online
- e-Government
- Citizens online
- Talent capital
- Pro-business, pro-consumer

WTO Issues Regulatory Frameworks

Member since 1995
Full liberalization of telecommunications market (2000)
Full competition in ICT sector

Electronic Transaction Act, 1998
Evidence Act, amended in 1995
Computer Misuse Act, 1993
Internet Code of Practice, 1997
Copyright Act, 1987
Data Protection Code
Media Development Authority — reconstitution of Singapore Broadcasting Authority

Key ICT Information

66 percent of the population are conversant in the use of PCs.
61 percent of households have at least one computer and about 50 percent have Internet access.
48 percent of the population are dial-up Internet users.
All public schools have broadband access, and there are 7,000 public broadband access points located throughout Singapore.
The national communications infrastructure has 99 percent island-wide broadband coverage available for access, through ADSL, cable, fibre optic and wireless connections.
91.6 percent of Internet users aged 15 years adn above use it for email and chat, 74.6 percent for information retrieval, 40.3 percent for web applications and 39.8 percent for news or webcast.
Telephones are found in 97 percent of households.
Mobile phones are used by 74.7 percent of the population.
The local scene for the open source movement is developing with the primary development occuring in educational institutions, supported by some industry efforts.

Source: Digital Review for Asia Pacific

Additional Resources

BBC News - Country Profiles

Digital Review 2005/2006

Digital Review 2003/2004

e-Government Action Plan II

Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts

OpenNet Initiative - Internet Filtering in Singapore in 2004-2005

Singapore eCitizen Website

Singapore e-Government Website

Singapore Government Online Portal

Singapore Telecommunications Limited