Infocomm industry chalked up S$45.4 billion in revenue
Tan Ee Sze
19/06/2007

Total infocomm revenue in Singapore hit an all-time high of S$45.4 billion in 2006, representing a 20 per cent growth from 2005. The findings of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s Annual Survey on Infocomm Industry also showed that the export market accounted for some S$29 billion (or 64 per cent) compared with S$22 billion in 2005, while the domestic market accounted for S$16.4 billion.

Globally, market research consultancy International Data Corporation has forecasted that IT spending for 2007 in the Asia Pacific, excluding Japan, will see a US$13 billion increase from 2006 and reach a total of US$194 billion in 2011.

Speaking at the official opening of the Infocomm Media Business Exchange (imbX) 2007, Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, said the global growth of the infocomm industry has been supported by the increasing adoption and usage of ICT among governments, businesses and consumers. In Singapore, for example, the government offers about 1,600 e-government services for always-on access to Singaporeans. In the latest Accenture study on government customer service including e-governrment across 22 countries, Singapore emerged at the top. “I believe that our extensive use of ICT and e-government solutions had contributed to our top placing,” said Lee.

On the manpower front, Singapore's infocomm pool grew 7.5 per cent to 119,700 in 2006. The talent pool was also more qualified; 83 per cent received tertiary education.

Drilling down, IDA’s Infocomm Manpower Survey for 2006 noted that there were 2,100 infocomm job vacancies in 2006, majority of which were in end user organisations. The top three job categories with the highest number of vacancies were Software Design, Development & Solution Implementation; Database Management; and Infrastructure Support.

The following are some other updates on the Singapore infocomm landscape that were released at imbX:

- In 2006, almost all enterprises (with 250 employees or more) have established Web presence, as well as used the Internet and broadband in 2006.

- On the consumer front, some 68.4 per cent households were on broadband in 2006, while 88 per cent of homes with school-going children owned computers.

- Businesses were offered breakthrough broadband service plans, with the introduction of HSDPA (3.5G), WiMAX services, and VoIP, while basic broadband prices (unlimited, 512kbps plans) for consumers went as low as S$22.90.

- More than 3,400 wirelesss hotspots have been implemented in Singapore, with another 1,600 to be added by September. About 428,000 subscribers have signed up for free wireless broadband access to date.

- A new pilot service - the Digital Concierge (DC) – was launched by IDA and the Singapore Tourism Board to provide visitors with personalised location-based services accessible via mobile devices such as the handphones. Examples of services include recommendations on where to go, where to eat and what to do. When fully implemented next year, the Digital Concierge service will support the national Tourism 2015 goal of achieving 17 million in visitor arrivals and S$30 billion in tourism receipts.

- Under the Infocomm@SME programme, an SME Infocomm Resource Centre has been set up to help SMEs leverage commonly used applications such as e-mail, IP-Telephony (Skype), anti-spyware and anti-virus. In addition, by end 2007, SMEs can also enjoy discounts of up to S$30 for domain name registration.

advertisement