Dubai: Dubai and Singapore share a willingness to embrace technology to build new things, said a top official.

Jacqueline Poh, managing director of Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), told Gulf News that Dubai Expo 2020 is a “huge opportunity” to embed technology into a lot of the solutions.

With Dubai already launching an initiative to transform into a “Smart City”, she said that Singapore is aiming to become a “Smart Nation”.

IDA is a board under the Ministry of Communications and Information and is responsible for the development and growth of the infocomm sector in Singapore.

She said that Dubai is the most technologically advanced city in the Middle East, in the same way as Singapore is the most advanced country in Asia.

“We have several tech companies that have already deployed solutions in Dubai, like eJustice systems, fleet management in transportation, and there could be other opportunities in future,” she said.

IDA signed an MoU with the Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority of the UAE in 2013 to further enhance collaboration in the field of telecommunications and ICT.

She said that in the MoU, both countries pledge to promote closer cooperation and knowledge exchange pertaining to various aspects of international and regional ICT in the public and private sectors.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the “Smart Nation” initiative on November 24 to integrate IT, networks and data seamlessly aimed at providing better living conditions for people, but “we have already embarked on its ‘Smart Nation’ journey. Many cities around the world have announced the initiatives, it is commendable. It is very important for cities to share technology with each other,” she said.

The Singapore government has set aside 1.2 billion Singapore dollars (Dh3.4 billion) for ICT projects in the financial year 2014-2015 in a bid to become the first “Smart Nation” in the world.

The budget, which remains the same as last year, will allocate about 400 tenders and boost IT infrastructure and lower barriers for smaller companies and start-ups to be included in government projects.

“We aim to improve service delivery to citizens and businesses through the innovative use of technology. Our Premier mentioned that in 10 years’ time, we need to become a smart nation. We are already a smart nation in many ways,” Poh said.

Connectivity

Health care, transport, energy management and sustainable development are global issues. If Singapore can solve some of these in one country, then these can be deployed in other countries also and can be “shared with technologically focused cities, like Dubai, through collaboration,” she said.

The ICT sector contributes currently seven per cent to Singapore’s GDP.

To become a smart nation, she said the first thing is to have connectivity.

Both places [Dubai and Singapore] are heavy in smartphone usage.

Smartphone penetration in Singapore is 85 per cent and mobile phone penetration is 150 per cent while smartphone penetration in the UAE is 78 per cent and mobile phone penetration is more than 200 per cent.

“We call it everyone, everything and everywhere best connected all the time. Smart nation development is heavily focused on internet of things,” she said.

In Singapore, there are 28 retail fixed service providers and three main telecom operators for mobile services.

The standard fixed broadband speed is 200 Mbps but a lot of homes go for 1Gbps for S$35.

“We also have 2Gbps speed for S$50. The actual fibre-to-the-home/business (FTTH/B) penetration rate is above 95 per cent,” she said.

In the UAE, the FTTH penetration rate is more than 85 per cent while FTTH/B is at 67.7 per cent.