BY KENNY CHEE

YOU might just want to deliberate more before signing up for new high-speed broadband plans unveiled last week that tap on the Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN).

Several experts my paper spoke to say that current broadband speeds will suffice for most online applications for now, and the new super-fast speeds will likely appeal to heavy Web users such as online gamers and file-sharers.

Many of the new plans offer broadband speeds of between 100Mbps and 1Gbps, which are about 10 times or more faster than many existing plans.

Industry insiders say the broadband experience is expected to get faster - like speedier downloads - and more stable with the plans, thanks to the commercial launch of the NGNBN last Tuesday.

Currently, more than 40 per cent of homes and offices are wired to the network and could subscribe to these plans.

The new plans could make sense price-wise for some people, but they might not be entirely necessary - for now.

Mr Foong King Yew, research director for communications at research firm Gartner, said: "There is no single application out there that needs such speeds today."

He said that even high-definition online video-conferencing services like telepresence could do with 12Mbps speeds in some cases.

Mr Adeel Najam, a senior industry analyst with research firm Frost & Sullivan, said dedicated 10-15Mbps speeds would, for instance, enable three television sets to play different channels on just one Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) service like Sing- Tel's mio TV. IPTV uses a broadband network to deliver content instead of a cable network or transmitting over the air.

Consumer 15Mbps plans do not always give 15Mbps speeds. Average speeds tend to be lower, according to experts.

Mr Najam said: "Right now, 1Gbps plans don't make a lot of sense to consumers because you can't really use that much speed." Mr Neil Montefiore, StarHub's chief executive officer, also said that most of its subscribers are likely to stick to current broadband plans.

However, experts say some consumers will switch to the high-speed offerings. Mr Benjamin Tan, managing director of SuperInternet, a new entrant to consumer broadband services, said that with a 100Mbps or faster connection, a household could have two TV sets running IPTV shows and three computers surfing the Web at the same time, something current broadband plans cannot handle well. "More bandwidth empowers users to find more ways to use their subscription plans," said Mr Tan.

Mr Montefiore said when Hong Kong and Sweden introduced high-speed broadband networks similar to the NGNBN, the early subscribers were online gamers and file sharers who needed high upload speeds.

"That will probably happen here, too. If you're an avid Bit- Torrent user, you might want to move to the NGNBN," he said.

BitTorrent is a file-sharing software. It is often used by pirates to share movie and music files.

Mr Montefiore said that the upload speeds offered by plans which use the NGNBN would be "a big differentiator but not everyone needs it".

Another reason to wait: Nucleus Connect, the firm managing the NGNBN, said that at least two service providers are holding off plans to offer services in Singapore this year because the new network has not covered the country fully yet.

About 95 per cent of households and offices are expected to be wired by 2012.

Mr David Storrie, chief executive of Nucleus Connect, which sells the NGNBN's bandwidth to service providers, said that he expects 10 players to offer services on the network by year's end, and four to five more around the middle of next year.

It is unclear how many of these service providers will offer consumer services. Currently, besides SuperInternet and the three telcos - SingTel, StarHub and M1 - a fifth player, LGA Telecom, will offer plans for home businesses and telecommuting workers.

What is certain is that the NGNBN is an investment for the future.

Gartner's Mr Foong said: "It's more to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place for future industry evolution."

He added that more innovation in broadband services will come from non-telcos: "They will be the catalyst for change."

kennyc@sph.com.sg

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