Network Services

Since October 1998, the Telecommunications Authority of Singapore has led major efforts in providing greater quality, availability and more competitive prices for Internet access. Today, the markets for the provision of public Internet access services and value-added resellers have been liberalized. This liberalization has created greater competition in network services and allowed parties such as Cyber-Cafes and hotels to provide value-added Internet services on top of basic Internet access.

On August 1999, TAS passed regulations to liberalize the transmission of value-added network (VAN) traffic over the Internet. VAN operators, who provide their subscribers with value-added functions, will now have the alternative of carrying their VAN traffic over the Internet in addition to via the Public Switched Telecommunication Network (PSTN) or leased circuits. This liberalization will enable VAN operators to provide a wider range of lower cost VAN services to users through harnessing the pervasiveness of the Internet.

 Singapore ONE

Singapore is also committed to increasing the network bandwidth availability to facilitate electronic commerce. On June 1998, Singapore commercially launched Singapore ONE, a broadband infrastructure network capable of handling bandwidth-intensive applications. Singapore ONE is operated by a consortium, 1-Net. With Singapore ONE, businesses can offer bandwidth-intensive digital products and services over high-speed Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks. Cable modems provided by Singapore Cable Vision (a cable TV provider); and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) provided by SingTel Magix.

 International Connectivity

Singapore has direct high-speed Internet links to regional countries, the United States and Europe. The Singapore Telecom Internet Exchange is an Asian Internet Hub, which connects more than 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific Rim. Singapore also has five 45Mbps direct connections to the USA Internet backbone, a 2Mbps direct connection to the European Internet backbone and high-speed links to Australia and China .

 Security Services

Singapore's took its first step towards setting up a national PKI on May 1997, when the National Computer Board (NCB) and Network for Electronic Transactions (Singapore) Pte Ltd (NETS) jointly established Netrust - the first Certification Authority (CA) in South Asia. Today, Netrust provides digital certificates to individuals, corporations and government organizations. In July 1998, Singapore enacted the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) which laid the framework for the establishment of a PKI in Singapore. The ETA provided for the appointment of a Controller of Certification Authorities (CCA) to enable regulations to be made for the licensing of CAs and cross-certification of foreign CAs.

 E Payment Services

Even though the growth of e-commerce has opened up novel ways of doing businesses on the net, in terms of payments, credit cards remain the predominately popular means of making payments online. There are also other forms of payments such as stored-value cards and online debit via Internet banking. The popularity of using credit card for online payments is mainly due to the ease of usage and its multi-currency support. For stored-value cards, NETSCash, which is the use of CashCard over the internet, is the other option. As compared to credit cards, CashCard payment is able to offer the anonymity attribute. Online debits via Internet banking is currently limited to bank-specific accounts, Singapore dollars clearing and Singapore-based merchants.There are also other third party payment service providers who do payment processing, merchant acceptance and offer multi-currency support to their merchants.

 Secure Electronic Transactions (SET)

SET is designed to enable secure credit card purchases on any type of online network, including the Internet. It is being offered by the four local banks, namely, DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, OUB Bank and UOB Bank.

 Internet CashCard Payment (NETSCash)

NETSCash offers micro-payments flexibility for consumers (ranging from S$1cent to S$500) who are shopping online. NETSCash enables online merchants and service providers who can now offer online cash sales, anytime and anywhere.

 Fulfilment Services

Physical fulfilment services looks at end-to-end supply chain integration. This would include integration from their store-front to their backend systems to ensure efficiency in fulfilment of orders. This physical delivery of goods in Singapore is further enhanced through the introduction of smart boxes, and other physical locations, petrol koisks which are accessible 24 hours daily.

 Digital Rights Management (DRM)

With Singapore's broadband infrastructure, content hosting, development and delivery capabilities, digital rights management (DRM) is increasingly becoming a key e-commerce infrastructure service for content encryption. DRM service offerings are already available and local websites are also offering secured, digital downloads.

 Application Service Providers

Since the ASPs are going to be a key to the E-commerce Infrastructure Service and Application Framework, the government will be keen to ensure that its development will provide a complete, cost competitive, and conducive environment.

The government also sees Singapore as an excellent location for the ASP industry to take off, given our existing infrastructure and liberalized telecommunication sector. Leading industry players have also formed the ASPAlliance Committee (AAC) which exists as a chapter under the Singapore IT Federation (IT). The AAC aims to aid in developing Singapore as an ASP hub for the region.

 Mobile Commerce

M-commerce is very much in its infancy in Singapore, though many merchants are already starting to look at WAP, and SMS-based applications as an alternative marketing channel. There are at least a few regions in Singapore - Holland Village, Siglap, Serangoon and Suntec City, where merchants are WAP ready. On the consumer end, the number of mobile subscribers and the availability of Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) handsets, and in general, GSM handsets have led to increased popularity of Short Message Services (SMS) and WAP. Wireless application providers, mobile operators, and other players in the m-commerce value chain have been quick to serve the need of these consumers by bringing applications to the mass-market.

 Alternative Dispute Resolution

In Singapore, ADR mechanisms are available through commercial mediation services are provided by the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC), while commercial arbitration services are provided by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). The and the Subordinate Courts of Singapore also provide also provide an electronic ADR service. In 1996, the former National Computer Board, together with SITF, explored how IT disputes could be resolved in a non-confrontational way. This led to the formation of the Singapore IT Mediation Centre (SITMC), which was hosted by SIAC. In 1997,the SITMC merged with the SMC. The steering committee of SITMC was re-constituted as SITDRAC, and now serves as an advisory to both the SMC and SIAC.