Tomorrow, the local regulator, the Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), will award new telco licenses under the fully liberalised environment.
Davnet provides voice, data networking, Internet and video conferencing services on its network via a single cable.
Information is sent and received via leased lines or through wireless rooftop links, which transmit data and voice using infra-red laser signals. Up to 1Gbps of data can be transmitted within an unblocked range of two kilometers.
The company is currently evaluating 10 buildings in the Central Business District (CBD)--including Grand Plaza, IBM Towers, Hong Leong Building, Tamasek and Clifford Center-- to set up the infrastructure, said Eric Chan, Davnet managing director. "We hope to wire up 120 buildings by end 2001."
It will cost between S$120,000 and S$160,000 to wire up each high-rise building.
Although the company's primary focus is to provide broadband communications services to companies in the CBD, Chan said Davnet will also wire up buildings at industrial parks.
Chan declined to reveal pricing details for the local market but said that its services in Hong Kong were "up to 30 percent cheaper on day one" and provide twice the bandwidth compared to the telcos there.
He also said that Davnet could offer a free trial of its services for two weeks to get people on its network. He expects the local operation to be profitable in 18 months.
Davnet's competitors--Concert and Equant, who have also applied for telco licenses here--will also offer Internet Protocol (IP)-based integrated voice, data and Internet services to corporations.
However, Chan remains unfazed about the competition. Davnet is focused on broadband IP, and unlike its competitors, it does not offer networking services such as frame relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
Besides breaking into the local market with its broadband communications offer, Davnet is also applying for a Video-On-Demand (VOD) license with the Singapore Broadcasting Authority.
Chan expects to get the license to provide a wireless network to offer VOD to broadband content providers here in two weeks. This will provide an alternative to current facilities, which are land-based, offerd by 1Net.
Both Davnet and its content providers will share the revenue generated from offering VOD here.
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