Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore

Founded:	1 December 1998
Headquarters:	10 Pasir Panjang Road #10-01 Mapletree Business City Singapore 117438
Country:	Singapore
Website:	ida.gov.sa
Blog:	ida.gov.sg/insg
Facebook:	IDA Facebook
Twitter:	@IDA_iNSG

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is a statutory board of the Singapore government, with the aim of growing the nation's presence as an infocom hub. IDA's approach to bolstering infocomm's economic contribution is an integrated one, wherein the board supports a competitive telecoms market, and ensures that the nation's business environment is conducive to the growth of both local and international businesses.

IDA is in charge of the nation's 10-year master plan, Intelligent Nation 2015 (iN2015). They hosted ICANN 41 in Singapore.

History

• IDA was formed by the merging of the National Computer Board and the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore

• In 2000, IDA launched the first e-Governance Action Plan, with the aim of making Singapore one of the largest e-Governments in the world..

• In the same year, Singapore's telecommunications market was fully liberalized. IDA also opened offices in the US in order to better serve US companies wishing to expand into Singapore and the rest of Asia.

• In 2001, IDA developed a program focused on wireless connections. It also sets up a preliminary 3G network.

• In 2002, IDA released the Spectrum Handbook and National Numbering Plan, which standardized all landline and mobile phone numbers to be 8 digits long. This was done by prefixing "6" to all established landlines.

• In late 2002, IDA opens offices in Bangalore, India and Shanghai, China.

• IDA introduced the WEAVE (Web Services Add Value to Enterprise) program in 2003, in order to drive web services development of local businesses.

• Also in 2003, IDA launched e-GAP II with the aim to make accessible, intreated, valuable services available to citizens.

• In 2004, IDA officially attained Quality Class recognition.

• In 2005, SGNIC launched second level TLDs for .sg.

• Later that year, they unveiled the Intelligent Nation 2015 10-year masterplan, as well as the first Infocomm Security Master Plan, with the aim to enhance the country's network security capabilities in order to protect against internal and external cyber threats.

• In early 2006, IDA launched the Wireless@SG program, which took wireless internet capabilities beyond the home and office and into public places.

• In 2007, IDA opened an office in Doha, Qatar.

• The Infocomm Security Masterplan II was launched in 2008 to build upon the original.

• In 2009, IDA International was launched to strengthen IDA's collaboration with governments overseas.

• Later that same year, the Next Generation Nation Broadband Network was released, with the aim of reaching 95% of homes by 2012.

iN2015 Masterplan

The purpose of the iN2015 Masterplan is to build Singapore into "an Intelligent Nation, a Global City, powered by Infocomm." There are three main components to the plan, which are:

1. Sectoral Transformation of Key Economic, Government, and Societal Sectors.
2. Ultra-high Speed, Pervasive, Intelligent, and Trustworthy Infocomm Infrastructure
3. Globally Competitive, Infocomm-savvy Workforce

In May 2005, a high level steering committee was formed to create a 10-year plan for the growth of Singapore's infocomm sector, focusing in innovation, integration locally, and internationalization.