Same play, different ballgames
The landscape is different in developing markets, where broadband infrastructures are not up-to-scratch, according to Foong. "Development is still hampered by poor network infrastructure and the high cost of rolling out copper lines," he said.
To bridge the broadband divide between these nations and Japan and Korea, the Frost & Sullivan analyst advised developing countries to deploy wireless broadband technology in order to reach the masses, without incurring hefty costs in laying wires. Government assistance or subsidies could also bolster broadband uptake, he said.
Mock Pak Lum, CEO of 1-Net Singapore, underscored the important role governments play in broadband development. Set up to build and manage the country's national broadband infrastructure SingaporeOne, 1-Net is currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore's incumbent broadcaster MediaCorp.
Mock noted that broadband in Singapore only started to take off when the local government liberalized the telecoms industry in April 2000, driving prices down.
Prior to that, after SingaporeOne was completed in 1996, the number of broadband users remained small, he said. According to a study by the Japanese Institute of Global Communications, there were about 100,000 broadband subscribers in 2001, or less than 4 percent of households in Singapore.
Mock said: "It didn't help that [the country's incumbent] SingTel was not too keen on promoting broadband services on its ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) network, because of worries that the move may cannibalize its leased circuit business."
"Also, there wasn't much content available at that time," he said. "What do you do with so much bandwidth? It's a chicken and egg issue--the content providers will not have enough business if there aren't many broadband users."
With Singapore's recent plan to develop a next-generation broadband network with access speeds beyond 1Gbps, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is looking to ensure the new network will not end up a white elephant.
According to an IDA spokesperson, iN2015, Singapore's latest infocomm roadmap, will help transform sectors such as digital media, education and healthcare using infocomm technology. "When this happens, we expect even more compelling applications and services to fill the new broadband pipes," she said, in an e-mail.
"While no one knows for sure what applications specifically will come about in future, trends suggest that exponential growth in network traffic will continue and ultra-high speed broadband pipes are the necessary conduits for the future," she added. "More people can be expected to use bandwidth-intensive applications like high-quality video distribution, peer-to-peer video conferencing, and online education. Other new bandwidth-intensive services and applications coming up, like HDTV and IPTV, make clear the need for a next-generation network and the need to provide for it."
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