HOME    AUTHORS    RESOURCES

IT Usage

IT in Business

A large number of companies, including the small and medium-size enterprises, are adopting IT for their businesses. Although they face the challenges of cost, security, and skilled manpower, the trend is for companies to computerize and get online.  Singapore has one of the highest penetration rates for personal computers in business.  At least 75% of businesses have at least one computer and of those, 81% of those businesses have Internet access. [1]

IT Spending

The average spending on IT by each company for 1998 was S$54,514.   Companies are expected to increase spending by 5% each year.  Companies in the banking/finance, government, IT, and telecommunications sectors are the largest spenders for IT. In contrast, companies in the construction, education, retail/distribution, and transportation sectors are the lowest spenders.[2]

IT Infrastructure
The level of IT sophistication is closely related to the size of the company. Larger companies have higher local area network usage. LAN connectivity in companies with more than 500 employees is close to 100%. The LAN penetration in small companies is low as most of these companies use stand-alone PCs.

Larger companies tend to use leased line access to access the Internet.   Close to 80% of businesses continue to access the Internet through a dial-up modem. Cable modem, a relatively new technology introduced a few years ago, has an adoption rate of 3%.[3]

PC Penetration at Home

The PC penetration rate in Singapore is on the rise.  The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) conducted a survey in 1999 and focused on PC penetration at home.  Key findings from the survey showed that Singapore is ahead of countries including the United States, Australia, and Japan in terms of household Personal Computer (PC) ownership and Internet penetration.  In 1999, 59% of households in Singapore own at least one computer compared to 36% in 1996.  See Figure 1 below.  [4]

Figure 1

The rapid increase in PC penetration can be attributed to the government's efforts in promoting computer usage among the general public, as well as the emphasis on IT usage in the school curriculum with the implementation of the IT Master plan in education.  According to the IDA report, Singapore's ownership rate of home computers was higher than the following countries: Japan (43%, Nomura Research Institute, May 1999), Australia (47%, Australian Bureau of Statistics, May 1999) and United States (54%, Arbitron New Media, 1999.) See figure 2 below.

Figure 2

Home Internet Penetration

Home Internet access has also grown rapidly since the availability of public access in 1994.  In 1996, only 9.0% of Singapore households had Internet access.  In 1999, it jumped to 42% of all households.  This compared favorably with the rates in Australia (22%), Japan (13%) and the U.S. (40%).  The total number of Singapore home Internet users in 1999 was estimated at 764,680, a significant increase from 114,368 in 1996.[6]

The rapid increase was attributed to a variety of factors:

• competitive Internet subscription fees offered by the local Internet Access Service Providers (IASPs),
• free accounts given by schools or low/subsidized subscription rates, and
• high rate of home computer ownership.

Use of the Internet

Home users with Internet access used the Internet most frequently for email/chat (87%), information retrieval (70%), news (25%), web applications (20%) and on-line games/movie-watching (17%). Use of the Internet for e-commerce activities such as on-line shopping and on-line government transactions was still at the

early adoption stage.  On-line shopping attracted 8.0% of home Internet users.  The most popular items bought were books and stationery, and the most popular payment mode was the credit card.  The survey also revealed that 14% of the home Internet users used the Internet to access on-line government transactions.  The most common transaction was the submission of Income Tax Returns, followed by requests for pension fund statements.[7]

Demographics

In terms of the users' profile, 80% of the households with personal computers have multiple users. More than half of internet users are male (55%), below 30 years old (59%) and have a tertiary education (53%). 

Barriers and Motivations

For those Singaporeans who do not own a PC, the main reason they report is lack of perceived need. This was the same reason offered by those without home Internet access.  Households without Internet access cited three motivations that would get them to subscribe to Internet access services and include:

§         cheaper subscription/access fees

§         need to surf for information

§         children’s need to use the Internet

Internet Service Providers:

The Tele- communications Authority of Singapore (TAS) regulates ISPs.  They lifted all restrictions on the ISP market in 2000 which raises the of ISPs to six.  Below is a list the ISPs in Singapore.

Mobile Phone

Singapore has a fairly high penetration rate for mobile phones.  Forty five percent of Singaporeans own a mobile phone.  This is behind the penetration rate of Honk Kong - with a 59.43 percent usage rate - but was higher than Japan's 42.97 percent [8]

Singapore, known for its strict anti-littering and anti-chewing gum laws, now plans to jail motorists who hold mobile phones to their ears while driving. They face a six-month jail term for a first offense or a S$1,000 ($588 U.S.) fine, or both, and a driving ban, a police spokesman said. A second offence would double the fine and jail term. [9]

[1] The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Information Communications Technology (ICT) Usage Survey 1999

[2] ibid

[3] ZDNetAsia, January 23, 1001, Singapore PC shipments increase 2 percent

[4] Tradeport, INFORMATION TECH HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, Febrauary 9, 2000

[5] The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), Information Communications Technology (ICT) Usage Survey 1999

[6] ibid

[7] ibid

[8] Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei

[9] ZDNetAsia, June 25, 2000, Use Cell Phone, go to jail, in Singapore