Yeo’s demand came at an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting in Cancun, Mexico, on Thursday. A study of the fairness of charging arrangements "highlighted a very real problem", he said. The minister's speech was made available by the Singapore government on Friday.
An 18-month study conducted by the industry showed "the cost of trans-Pacific Internet connectivity is borne entirely by Asian businesses and consumers", Yeo told the ministerial meeting on the telecommunications and information industry.
"They pay for traffic going from Asia to North America. They also pay for traffic originating from North American users to Asia," he said.
AFP reported that Yeo warned the digital divide between those with access to the Internet and information technology and those without, would widen because of the imbalance. He said the global subsidy of Asian Internet service providers stood at US$5 billion each year.
He said governments could not impose a solution to address the problem since it had to be agreed upon commercially, but he urged ministers at the meeting to get the process started by reaffirming in their declaration the importance of equitable sharing of international Internet bandwidth costs.
The Singapore government said its call was welcomed by a large majority of the APEC economies represented at the meeting.
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