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Tag: Singapore

  • T2 Singapore launches with kaya toast brew

    T2 Singapore launches with kaya toast brew

    For its first outlet in Asia, Australian tea chain T2 Singapore has launched with a new brew that pays homage to local breakfast staple kaya toast.

    Its Singapore Breakfast tea is a blend of pu’er (Chinese fermented tea), green tea, coconut flakes and roasted rice. It is among more than 150 types of teas at the new store, in the 313@Somerset mall.

    T2 CEO Nicky Sparshott says Singapore was picked for the company’s Asian debut because of its “strong tea-drinking culture with multicultural influences, from black tea dating back to the colonial period to Asian tea beverages such as teh tarik – Malay for pulled tea – and green tea”.

    Covering 550 sqft (51 sqm), the store offers myriad teas, from black, green and white to rooibos, and herbal and fruit-based tisanes.

    Bestsellers for the company include French Earl Grey, which has bergamot-infused black tea perfumed with rose and sunflower petals and hibiscus; Green Rose, green tea paired with mango, papaya and rose petals; and Fruitalicious tisane, a blend of cranberries, blueberries, dragon fruit and goji berries.

    t2-tea-c

    Singapore has been among T2’s top five markets in online sales over the past two years, and Sparshott hopes the country’s reputation as a tourism hub can expose the tea company to visitors in Asia.

    “Infinite possibilities”

    “Tea has moved from being a beverage for old people to having infinite possibilities … there is an appetite for new invention in teas,” she says.

    Like its more than 75 outlets in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US, the T2 shop in Singapore has black floor-to-ceiling shelves lined with brightly coloured tea boxes, tea pots, cups and accessories. Taking centre stage is an island brew bar with tea-making apparatus, where six types of hot and iced tea beverages are brewed daily for customers to sample.

    Sparshott says customers can also attend regular tea masterclasses and tea-blending sessions through the tea community group T2 Society, which is free to join.

    She says T2 intends to open another three or four outlets in Singapore in the coming year.

    Started in Melbourne in 1996, T2 was acquired by Unilever in 2013, which owns such tea brands as Lipton.

    Other tea boutiques in Singapore include the TWG Tea chain and The 1872 Clipper Tea Company, which opened a tea retail shop-cum-bar in Ion Orchard last April.

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  • Singapore retail rents slipped in final quarter

    Singapore retail rents slipped in final quarter

    Singapore retail rents slipped 1.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2016, compared with the previous quarter.

    According to data from JLL Singapore, included in a pan-industry market review, retail rents were under most pressure in the Marina quarter where most of the new space coming onto the market in the quarter was concentrated.

    Despite positive net absorption of the opening of South Beach (60,000 s ft) and Tanjong Pagar Centre (100,000 sqft), rental corrections in the Marina submarket remained underpinned by the weak performance of retailers, with many of them seeking pre-termination of their leases, reports JLL.

    The average vacancy rate of suburban malls, including Reit-owned and strata-titled shopping centres, has more than doubled from less than 1 per cent in 2013 to 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. Year-on-year, average monthly gross rents for prime retail space in suburban malls fell by 7.1 per cent in the quarter.

    Prime retail rents in Orchard Road have fallen 7.5 per cent over the same period.

    The quarter saw marginal year-on-year retail sales decline in October, (excluding motor vehicles), driven by poorer sales in computers and telecommunications equipment and watches and jewellery, “ indicating the persistence of weak consumer sentiment”.  And despite take-ups being dominated by the entry of new F&B operators, the F&B sales index also recorded a similar year-on-year decline.

    “Total retail investment sales value for the fourth quarter rose sharply from a quarter ago, driven by the interest in retail assets in the suburban submarket, likely due to the resilient rental income they provided,” reported JLL. “Jurong Point, one of the biggest suburban shopping centres, was put up for sale at a price of more than SG$2 billion and received considerable interest.

    “However, apart from the marginal compression of yields in the suburban submarket, overall yields remained relatively stable as the rate of capital value correction was in line with rental decline across the Orchard and Marina submarkets.”

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  • Singapore’s consumer prices rise for first time in 2 years

    Singapore’s consumer prices rise for first time in 2 years

    After a record two years of negative inflation, consumer prices in Singapore finally rose in December last year, with headline inflation coming in at 0.2 per cent.

    The rise in the consumer price index (CPI) was due to a larger increase in private road transport cost, which rose by 1.7 per cent in December following a 0.2 per cent rise in November. The rise was the result of higher petrol prices and car park fees, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Monday (Jan 23).

    Services inflation edged up to 1.6 per cent from 1.5 per cent in November, mainly due to a faster pace of increase in holiday expenses, which more than offset the larger contraction in telecommunication services fees.

    Food inflation was 2 per cent, unchanged from the previous month. Accommodation costs fell by 3.8 per cent in December, similar to the previous month, reflecting continued softness in the housing rental market, MAS and MTI said.

    Overall retail goods inflation eased to zero per cent in December from 0.2 per cent in November, largely on account of a fall in the prices of personal care products.

    December’s increase comes after the headline consumer price index stayed flat in November from a year earlier, coming off a deflationary trend for the first time in two years.

    For the whole of 2016, headline inflation came in at -0.5 per cent for the second consecutive year.

    Core inflation, which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport, was slightly lower at 1.2 per cent compared to 1.3 per cent in November. The decline was mainly due to a fall in retail goods inflation more than offsetting an increase in services inflation, MAS and MTI said.

    For the whole of 2016, core inflation rose to 0.9 per cent, from 0.5 per cent the year before.

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  • Urban Revivo opens first international store

    Urban Revivo opens first international store

    Chinese fashion brand Urban Revivo has opened its first international store, at Singapore’s Raffles City Shopping Centre.

    Launched in 2006, Urban Revivo specialises in contemporary clothing and accessories for both men and women. It has 150 stores across about 60 cities in China, including Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

    While the brand refreshes its stores with up to 12,000 new styles every year, all its designs are available in only 12 pieces per store, reports Her World Plus, which features this video tour of the new store:

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  • EZ Link launches contactless payment wearables

    EZ Link launches contactless payment wearables

    Singapore’s EZ-Link, the market’s largest issuer of CEPAS-compliant cards, announced the launch of EZ-Link Wearables.

    Launched in collaboration with Watchdata Technologies and Garmin, the ez-link CEPAS purse will be enabled on the Batman v Superman Fitness Tracker X EZ-Link and the Garmin vívosmart HR with EZ-Link smartwatch.

    The devices will support contactless payments on public transit and at more than 30,000 ez-link acceptance points island-wide.

    While offering support for contactless payments, the devices remain smart health and fitness devices that monitor and record daily activities to support a healthy lifestyle.

    “Last year, we integrated a similar contactless chip into the vívosmart HR band in Taiwan which lets users pay for train rides, bus trips and retail purchases via the I-Pass electronic wallet stored within the chip,” Garmin South Asia GM Al Sundoro said.

    “This collaboration with EZ-Link puts Singapore on the road map as the first country in South-east Asia to offer a contactless payment solution where you can pay for public transport rides with a tap of your wearable on your wrist.”

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  • Zalora Regional Headquarters Relocating to Tanjong Pagar

    Zalora Regional Headquarters Relocating to Tanjong Pagar

    Online fashion retailer ZALORA is relocating its corporate headquarters in Singapore. The company has signed a three-year lease occupying over 30,000 square feet across two floors in Keppel Towers, located in Tanjong Pagar in the heart of Singapore’s business district.

    Parker Gundersen, ZALORA CEO, commented, “We’re very excited to be relocating to Keppel Towers. It’s a beautiful space that offers a more efficient layout with spectacular views of the city and waterfront. The larger space supports our continued expansion needs and offers a more collaborative environment for the team. Tanjong Pagar is also a very vibrant part of Singapore with great restaurants and amenities. It’s a great next step for ZALORA.”

    Mr Tan Swee Yiow, President (Singapore), Keppel Land, said, “As a provider of premium office space, Keppel Land constantly seeks to partner exciting growth businesses that will drive the future economy. Zalora is one such company and we are very pleased to welcome them to Keppel Towers, and look forward to partnering them in their expansion in Singapore and the region.”

    ZALORA’s new office address is 10 Hoe Chiang Road #18-01 Keppel Towers Singapore 089315.

  • SelluSeller makes multiple-market selling easier

    SelluSeller makes multiple-market selling easier

    eCommerce and logistics company Anchanto has launched a software platform, SelluSeller, to help merchants, brands and distributors sell products on a multitude of marketplaces.

    Revealed at a company event in Singapore, SelluSeller enables users to manage their inventory and simultaneously upload listings to several eCommerce websites including Flipkart, Lazada and Matahari. This saves them having to repeat the process for each individual site.

    SelluSeller also allows merchants to sell crossborder and connect to logistics and warehousing services from Anchanto’s network in Southeast Asia.

    “We wanted to connect brands and sellers to marketplaces,” says Anchanto co-founder/CEO Vaibhav Dabhade. “You can outsource your logistics, including crossborder, and manage your brand’s online presence with one click.”

    Anchanto targets both small sellers with fewer than 1000 sales a month as well as large brands and distributors. For the small sellers it charges a flat fee of US$21 a month, while the larger merchants pay seven cents a order.

    However, sellers who opt to use third-party logistics providers that are already Anchanto clients and part of its warehouse management and fulfillment management network, can use SelluSeller without charge.

    Lazada test

    Anchanto expects to have more than 5000 merchants and brands on SelluSeller in the next four to five months. It has been working with Lazada to develop and test the software. Other partners include luxury-product distribution firm Bluebell Group, lifestyle and apparel distributor JayGee Group, and global market expansion company DKSH. Altogether, the product pilot includes 55 brands and distributors.

    SelluSeller is an evolution of the company’s channel-management services and expands Anchanto’s products, which until now focussed mostly on global fulfillment, crossborder shipping, and warehouse management for clients like Groupon and Levis. The company has also helped businesses from Europe get their products on marketplaces like Flipkart, Lazada and Qoo10.

    Meanwhile, Anchanto acknowledges that regional eCommerce is significantly outpacing domestic eCommerce, despite price variables in terms of shipping, customs and tariffs, plus delays because of “large amounts of red tape”, he told the 2017 Asia eCommerce Dialogue in Singapore.

    He says that for regional players, local partnerships are necessary in each country, as exemplified by multinational companies.

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  • M1, Huawei complete 5G mmWave demo

    M1, Huawei complete 5G mmWave demo

    M1 and Huawei have completed a 5G demonstration over 73-GHz E-band spectrum, achieving Singapore’s highest 5G transmission speeds of 35Gbps.

    The demonstration at M1’s main operating center in Jurong has validated the performance of 5G using millimeter wave high frequency bands, the companies announced.

    M1 CTO Denis Seek said 5G will support the massive number of low-latency connections critical to driving the next wave of technological development in areas including virtual and augmented reality, the connected car and autonomous vehicles as well as IoT applications.

    “Singapore’s mobile networks are widely acknowledged as amongst the most advanced worldwide, and M1 is committed to staying at the forefront of 5G technology to ensure our consumers enjoy the best experience and latest smart applications,” he said.

    In Hong Kong, SmarTone and Ericsson recently conducted the city’s first 5G demonstration using millimeter wave spectrum.

  • Singapore’s PM Launches Visit ASEAN@50 Campaign

    Singapore’s PM Launches Visit ASEAN@50 Campaign

    The Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, and ASEAN Secretary General, Mr Le Luong Minh, officially launched the VisitASEAN@50 Golden Celebration tourism campaign on 18 January at the opening of the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Singapore.

    The campaign promotes the twin objectives of commemorating the 50th anniversary of ASEAN, and embracing the ASEAN region as a single and united tourism destination.

    Ahead of its launch, ASEAN tourism ministers agreed that the objectives of the campaign were to raise tourist arrivals to the region to 121 million by end of 2017, up from 108 million in 2015. Tourism officials also hope to boost tourism receipts to USD83 billion and increase average length of stay to 6-7 days by encouraging tourists to travel to at least two ASEAN countries on each visit.

    Fifty special tour packages – carefully selected by the 10 member countries of ASEAN — are the main draw of the tourism campaign, which is supported by globally recognised companies such as Mastercard and AirAsia.

    The VisitASEAN@50 campaign comes at a time when tourism has been a star performer in Southeast Asia, rising from 42 million international arrivals to the region in 2000 to 108 million in 2015, according to numbers provided by the ASEAN Secretariat.

    The proliferation of low cost airlines, rising living standards in the region and the proximity of mass markets such as China have turned tourism into a powerful workhorse, which now commands about 12.4 % of the ASEAN economy according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

    In his speech, Prime Minister Lee called for better connectivity within Southeast Asia and urged fellow member countries not to shy away from “less glamorous” tourism development tasks such as building new infrastructure, enhancing training and reducing red tape. Specifically he said he would like to see ASEAN strengthen air links, boost cruise tourism and develop tourism’s human resource skills.

    During the launch on 18 January, a new hybrid orchid named Papilionanda ASEAN Golden Jubilee was unveiled to commemorate 50 years since the launch of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. The orchid was created from several different strands of genus from various ASEAN countries.

    The Visit ASEAN@50 campaign will run until 31 December this year. Details on the 50 special tour packages are available on the campaign’s official website at www.visitASEAN50.com.

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  • NEC holds Innovative Solutions Fair in Singapore

    NEC holds Innovative Solutions Fair in Singapore

    This year’s theme, ‘Co-creating Cities of Tomorrow’, seeks to showcase NEC’s most innovative and proven suite of “Solutions for Society” and cutting-edge technologies that are being used to transform cities and businesses in the areas of safety, security, efficiency and allowing people to live brighter lives.

    Featuring more than 25 interactive exhibits showcasing NEC’s breakthrough innovative urban and business transformation solutions, the one-day event will feature a keynote speech by Mr. Kiren Kumar, who oversees the Infocomm and Media industry development efforts at the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), as well as insights from thought leaders into the latest industry research, and how ICT solutions can help enhance safety and business transformation for cities and society.

    Other highlights include safer and smart cities technologies based on NEC’s portfolio of artificial intelligence technologies, NEC the WISE, such as NEC’s world’s No.1 face recognition and fingerprint technology, cyber security, smart energy, healthcare, transport; business transformation solutions such as enterprise cloud, IoT, smart workplace and collaboration, Software-Defined Networking technology, mixed reality for enterprises and much more.

    Mr. Kiren Kumar, Assistant Managing Director, EDB, said, “NEC is a longstanding partner of Singapore and has worked closely with the government on multiple fronts to test and scale their latest smart city technologies. We are therefore heartened to see that NEC is leveraging Singapore as a platform to showcase their latest technologies and facilitate partnerships between companies and innovators to address opportunities created by digitalisation. This bodes well for Singapore’s efforts to become the Digital Capital of Asia.”

    “NEC Asia Pacific is pleased to hold the NEC Innovative Solutions Fair for the second time in Singapore. Leveraging NEC’s ‘Solutions for Society’ suite of cutting-edge technologies and solutions, we believe in forging strong partnerships with governments and enterprises to co-create impactful, innovative solutions that solve societal challenges and enhance lives. As a result, NEC aims to create a safer, brighter and more sustainable future for society and its communities,” said Lim Kok Quee, Managing Director and Deputy CEO (ASEAN Sub-Region) of NEC Asia Pacific.

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  • Qoo10 bridges the gap between online and offline retail in Singapore

    Qoo10 bridges the gap between online and offline retail in Singapore

     

    Asia’s e-commerce platform, Qoo10, has launched a GPS-enabled mobile game called MameGo! in Singapore. The game, which was developed by Qoo10, is available on Qoo10’s online marketplace as well as its Qoo10 and Live10 mobile apps.

    Nearly similar to Pokemon Go!, the game issues three Mameballs to Qoo10 shoppers on a daily basis to unlock and catch Mamemons, which can be exchanged for discounts, super sale coupons or Qpoints. Mameballs can also be collected through electronic direct mailers (eDMs), mobile pushes and various loyalty programmes.

    According to Qoo10, brick-and-mortar retailers can use MameGo!’s GPS feature to attract shoppers to visit their physical stores. This method thus bridges the gap between brick-and-mortar outlets and e-commerce platforms.

    “The future of retail is no longer divided between online and offline, but one converged platform offering consumers an end-to-end shopping experience. As consumers’ shopping appetites continue to become more sophisticated and as they demand more personalised experiences, it will take a concerted effort to boost Singapore retail sector,” said Jacob Yu, Brand Manager and PR, SEA, Qoo10.

    To help retailers leverage the game to increase brand awareness, MameGo! offers exclusive branded Mamemon characters, also known as Brandmons. Currently, more than 100 retail brands are exploring the adoption of MameGo!, each with their own personalised Brandmons.

    “Singapore remains a key growth market for us, and initiatives such as Mame Go! are aligned with our mission to create a marketplace that benefits everyone – not just customers, but also the retail ecosystem as a whole,” concluded Yu.

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  • Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation awards research grants to 4 projects

    Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation awards research grants to 4 projects

    This year’s winners of the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation (MSIWF) research grant, awarded for exceptional insight and potential, comprised of some of Singapore’s leading researchers that aim to make a difference by solving Singapore’s key traffic and healthcare issues for the nation’s ageing population.

    The 2016 winners are:

    • Ms Maria Cecilia Rojas Lopez, PhD candidate at the School of Civil and Environment Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, for her research that will lead to the development of traffic schemes and policies for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians on footpaths. For this project, Rojas Lopez will study cyclists’ behaviour and their interaction with other path users, which is a potential issue since bicycles have been allowed on footpaths in Singapore since March 2016.
    • Dr Tan Ngiap Chuan is a Family Physician, Senior Consultant and Director, Research at SingHealth Polyclinics. His proposed study aims to find out how common is the age-related loss of muscle mass and muscle function, known as “sarcopenia” among elderly patients. Sarcopenia has been shown to be worse amongst the elderly with diabetes. Muscle weakness resulting from the reduced muscle bulk and strength will subject the elderly to increased risks of frailty, falls, fractures, hospitalisations and even premature deaths. The findings from this study will allow doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to identify the reasons leading to sarcopenia, so that solutions can be developed and assessed if they are effective in reducing the muscle bulk loss, in maintaining or even strengthening their muscle functions.
    • Dr Kinjal Doshi, principal clinical psychologist at Singapore General Hospital, aims to create a better tool for use in identifying loss of functional abilities among the elderly. 
    • Dr Rufaihah Binte Abdul Jalil, assistant professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, will design a diagnostic tool for atherosclerosis, a main illness known to harden the arteries usually affecting the elderly.
    • MSIWF is a non-profit organisation that is part of the Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited, and supports researchers in Japan, Singapore and Thailand for practicable research in two key areas: senior citizen welfare and traffic safety. The MSIWF research grant is unique compared to others, as it supports interdisciplinary research at its early stages, where it is generally tougher for researchers to obtain funding elsewhere. 

    This year marks the 10th anniversary of MSIWF grant support in Singapore, which was introduced in 2007 for the first time outside of Japan. Since then, MSWIF has supported 38 research projects and has disbursed grants worth more than about S$363,000.

    “At MSIG, our focus goes beyond financial profits. It is our mission to help secure a sustainable future for the communities at large. With a growing ageing demographic in Singapore, solutions for improving the quality of life are critical for sustainable growth. This grant from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation aims to empower talented researchers to do just that,” said Mr Alan J. Wilson, Regional CEO of MSIG Holdings (Asia) Pte Ltd. 

    The call for the 2016 grants was launched in June last year, and a total of 246 applications were received globally. The winning projects will conduct their research over the next 12 months and their findings will be published in scientific journals as well as shared with the Foundation during next year’s presentation ceremony in 2018.

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  • DBS offers cardholders dynamic currency conversion on overseas shopping

    DBS offers cardholders dynamic currency conversion on overseas shopping

    In a game-changing move, DBS Bank today unveiled its plans to help customers save on their overseas spending by avoiding high foreign exchange (FX) and conversion fees.

    Starting today, customers with a DBS Visa Debit Card linked to a DBS Multi-Currency Account (MCA)* can use their card to spend overseas in the country’s given local currency** without any additional charges. This scheme is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.The savings will be greatest for Singapore customers who shop in overseas-based online stores or who perform credit/debit card payments overseas and choose to pay in SGD. When they pay in SGD overseas, their payment undergoes a process called “Dynamic Currency Conversion” (DCC), and customers can incur additional merchant charges of between 7% to 15%. In 2016, around 10% of payments by DBS Visa Debit cardholders were overseas transactions made in SGD.

    Customers who choose to pay in the country’s local currency also get to avoid any additional charges such as FX fees and any other conversion charges. For example, a Singapore traveller who intends to visit the U.S. can change currencies via their DBS MCA account (e.g. from SGD to USD), which offers competitive FX rates. This can be done on-the-go or when rates are favourable via DBS mBanking or iBanking. When spending in the U.S., the traveller can simply use their DBS Visa Debit Card to pay for purchases in USD. The amount is then directly deducted from their DBS MCA’s USD balance with no other charges incurred.

    “With travel and ecommerce expenditure rising rapidly in Singapore, we decided to be on the front foot and introduce a game-changing scheme for customers and the industry. With the DBS MCA and DBS Visa Debit Card, customers can convert their currencies at a competitive rate using DBS iBanking or mBanking without needing to make a trip to the money changer. They will also get to skip FX fees and conversion charges for their overseas spends. Our hope is that this will incentivise Singaporeans move towards the security and convenience of cashless payments,” said Jeremy Soo, Head of Consumer Banking Group (Singapore) at DBS.

    DBS’ introduction of the scheme is particularly timely given that it has witnessed close to a 30% increase in foreign currency payment volumes – which includes foreign currency eCommerce and point-of-sales payments – from debit cardholders since 2014. For DBS Visa Debit cardholders in particular, foreign currency payments make up more than 20% of total payments. DBS also sees some SGD560 million in overseas cash withdrawals every year by customers.

    “Travel is becoming increasingly popular amongst Singaporeans and based on the Consumer Travel Poll jointly conducted by Visa and DBS, more than half of them take two to four leisure trips a year. Visa cardholders are increasingly using their payment cards when they travel and cross border transactions by Singapore debit cardholders is growing close to 15% year-on-year. Today, 95% of Singaporean travellers change money into foreign currencies before they travel and the main reason is because they want to avoid the uncertainty of foreign exchange costs. The introduction of this first in market product in Southeast Asia by DBS and Visa supports Singapore’s move to be truly cashless,” said Ooi Huey Tyng, Visa Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei.

    To enjoy the benefits of the scheme, customers will need to sign up for both the DBS MCA and DBS Visa Debit Card. In addition, the customer’s DBS MCA must be linked to their DBS Visa Debit Card as a primary account. Further details on how to be eligible for the scheme’s benefits are available at go.dbs.com/sg-mca. Launched in 2013, the DBS MCA has rapidly built up a large base and has some 200,000 account holders today. In 2015, DBS made the DBS MCA a standard account for new customers to ensure customers will always have ready access to currency exchange. The DBS MCA is also the only multi-currency account in Singapore that allows exchanges in twelve key currencies (including SGD)*** – by far the most here. In addition, there are some 800,000 DBS Visa Debit cardholders here.

    The scheme, focused on helping customers who are frequent travellers avoid the hassle of carrying large amounts of cash overseas, is part of DBS’ larger plan to drive cashless payment behaviour and to bring innovation into financial services. This is something the bank is uniquely positioned to do given that it banks most of Singapore and is the nation’s largest credit and debit card provider, with some five million cards in circulation here.

    Over the last few years, the bank has launched several large-scale and game-changing offerings to help Singaporeans reduce their reliance on cash. This include innovations such as DBS PayLah! (for small merchants and micropayments), DBS FasTrack (for F&B SMEs), POSB Fare Free Friday (for public transport-related transactions); POSB Smart Buddy (for school kids) and more. The bank was also one of the first in Singapore to adopt all three mobile payment platforms – Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay.

  • IMDA to hold 5G consultation this year

    IMDA to hold 5G consultation this year

    Singapore’s Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA) plans to hold a public consultation covering 5G mobile networks later this year.

    The regulator will hold the consultation as part of its efforts to facilitate the commercialization of 5G services in Singapore.

    The IMDA is strongly urging the mobile industry to participate in the consultation to help the regulator better understand the industry’s needs, as well as the optimal spectrum roadmap and regulatory framework that will allow innovation to flourish.

    Other initiatives the IMDA will take during the transition to 5G will include the promotion of real-world trials to better understand how 5G will fit into Singapore’s business environment, as well as optimal deployment scenarios for operators.

    Singapore’s mobile operators are meanwhile themselves conducting preparatory work for the introduction of 5G – Singtel, for example, recently upgraded its LTE network nationwide to support the pre-5G technology 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (256 QAM), giving the network a peak speed of 450Mbps.

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  • Alibaba Cloud to help boost Singapore’s digital economy

    Alibaba Cloud to help boost Singapore’s digital economy

    Alibaba Cloud the National University of Singapore (NUS), and EZ-Link, Singapore’s largest issuer of Contactless e-Purse Application (CEPAS) compliant cards, have teamed up to boost Singapore’s smart computing and data-driven capabilities.

    The three organizations have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at bolstering the University’s data science curriculum and paving the way for a pilot data analytics project with EZ-Link.

    The collaboration is also aimed at helping build local IT skillsets, meet enterprise demands and support the research and development of advanced technologies in the big data era.

    Ethan Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Group and General Manager of Alibaba Cloud Global said, “Singapore has been a pioneer in fostering innovation and technological disruption in Asia, and we are proud to contribute to the nation’s development through our partnership with NUS and EZ-Link.

    By leveraging the expertise of academia, the government and enterprises, we intend to raise the bar in nurturing talent, business and communities to reach new frontiers of the digital economy.”

    Alibaba Cloud will contribute $500,000 in cloud credits towards the use of its cloud platform and data centres by students and researchers from NUS for academic and research purposes. IT experts from Alibaba Cloud will also offer hands-on lessons on the use of Alibaba Cloud’s platform for NUS staff and students.

    In addition, Alibaba Cloud and NUS will collaborate in the areas of cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and interactive digital media, as well as identifying opportunities for joint research projects and information exchange.

    “NUS contributes to Singapore’s vision of becoming a digital economy through our University’s strengths – creating value through fundamental and applied research, and training the next generation of digital talent,” NUS deputy president for research and technology  Professor Ho Teck Hua said.

    “By working with Alibaba Cloud, a global cloud leader, we can tap into its extensive ecosystem and technology capabilities for these efforts. The partnership with Alibaba Cloud and EZ-Link further demonstrates the close collaboration between academia and industry in solving real-world problems, and will help contribute towards a future, cashless Singapore.”

    Alibaba Cloud and NUS are currently working with EZ-Link to analyze card usage patterns across the EZ-Link card schemes, service touch points, and customer segments to improve customer experience and create better services via real-time insights.

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