Singapore, the new bandwidth nation
Computer World (Singapore) has a fascinating article on how the tiny-island nation is becoming the bandwidth and technology hub of Asia. VSNL, for instance is building a 3175 kilometer 5.12 terabit cable between Madras and Singapore, the second such pipe between the two places. Bharti Telecom already has multi-terabit i2i cable in place, and others are in the works. According to the latest TeleGeography research, capacity prices from the U.S. to India are still five to ten times higher than on the U.S. to Hong Kong route. ÄúInevitably, the increase in capacity and number of competing cable systems will drive down the price of bandwidth to India,” said Alan Mauldin, Senior Research Analyst at TeleGeography Research. “In other parts of Asia, prices declined by 60 percent or more in the last year Äî this could easily be repeated on Indian routes for years to come.”
Thanks to these and other cables, it seems India’s bandwidth capacity is going to increase from 31 gigabits/second in 2001 to 541 gigabits per second by end of 2004, reports Telegeography.
Having returned from a trip to Singapore just a few days ago, I can confirm that Singapore is indeed a VERY wired place/city/country. Fast Internet connections are everywhere and anywhere. I have even seen MS Outlook running on a flat panel display inside a subway clerk’s booth!
Having a small and young country helps! (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/sn.html)
>> Having a small and young country helps!
It sure does. What also helps is a government and a system that runs the country like a big MNC.Every policy that the government promotes is in line with the overall goal of making Singapore a regional hub of all business (and if the latest initiatives bears fruit even cultural) activities.
However one of the few things some people in the technology area have been worried about is the shift in emphasis from IT to Biotech and the subsequent diversion of funds from one area to the other. The research grants have taken a hit, KRDL, now part of I2R, one of the few pure research inistitutions in Singapore is still struggling to go back to its roots after the mixed success in the dot com boom time.