SingTel is going to lead a pilot project to explore ways to telecommute and have flexible work arrangements, with the hopes of drawing an estimated 326,000 “economically inactive” Singaporeans back into the workforce.

By sending a modest 30 employees from five companies back to their own homes, the study aims to assess the viability of telecommuting on a larger scale and identify the problems that may arise out of such a work culture. …

For some people, the unceasing IT bazaars such as this week’s IT Show seem to assault the senses every three months, with their loud discounts and thronging crowds.

Still, some brands treat the event as a launch pad for their new products, and other companies occasionally surprise us with generous gifts and low price points, so they’re worth checking out.

Here are a few new and noteworthy items at this year’s IT Show. …

If you don’t want the bundled mio TV or StarHub cable when you sign up for fibre broadband in Singapore, there’s a new online TV offering from upstart challenger Viewqwest this week – the popular PPTV online TV service from China.

Folks who sign up for Viewqwest’s Freedom VPN plan will get “VIP access” to the PPTV service, which streams thousands of popular Asian drama serials and some Hollywood movies. …

More than 250,000 households, or every one in five, in Singapore are now surfing on the country’s speedy fibre broadband network, according to survey results released by Opennet on Wednesday.

The company rolling out the network here said the number has increased quickly over the 100,000 at the start of the year, as more people look to watch videos and download music with faster connections.

The growth is not unexpected, as more users are being hooked up to the islandwide network. At the same time, the newly-opened up market has produced cheaper services, starting at S$39 a month for a 100Mbps service, and more variety in the form of services optimised for gamers. …

(source: M1 Sitex brochure)

Prices of fibre broadband services in Singapore are back to their crazy lows at the ongoing Sitex show, as service providers engage in a frantic grab for customers at the start of the holiday season. …

If you believe the hype that is put out at industry conferences and on whitepapers, these days it’s easy as ABC to set up the three basic IT items that almost any small business needs – a broadband connection, e-mail addresses and a website.

There’s cloud computing, there’s pay-as-you-use software, not to mention cheap fibre broadband in Singapore that trumps the outdated and crazy expensive leased lines of old.

Yet, if you go past the technology, as I did recently while helping a friend work out his company IT, you’ll find the reality a little different on the ground.

…

And the price war rages between the telcos on fibre broadband prices.

Every quarter this year — if our quarterly tech fairs IT Show, PC Show and the recent COMEX are any indication — prices have fallen on fibre broadband packages.

M1 has just launched a promotion where their 200mbps fibre is retailing at S$49 per month, valid from now till early November. And there’s mobile broadband and home fixed voice service thrown in as well.

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After seeing smaller rivals muscle into the fibre broadband scene with faster services aimed at gamers and other demanding users, StarHub has now thrown its hat in the ring as well with a couple of similar 100Mbps and 150Mbps plans.

Available from today, the two MaxInfinity LVL99 plans promise faster connections and lower latency for gamers, as well as free in-game items each month.

For these specialised services, StarHub says gaming traffic routed locally in Singapore will be given priority over regular Internet data. Specifically, it promises that the two services will have international connections at 15Mbps for 95 per cent of the time during peak hours, and “unlimited” bandwidth during off peak hours.

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When M1 put up those banners for S$39-a-month fibre broadband services last week at the PC Show, its rivals must have cursed as much as consumers cheered for a “market spoiling” deal that once again proved how cheap high-speed Internet services have become in Singapore.

A laggard in broadband services and their takeup just a few years ago, Singapore is now one of the world’s leading fibre broadband capitals for not just the variety and low cost of offerings but also the way the market has been regulated.

The numbers don’t lie. At each quarterly computer bazaar, more than 3,000 users sign up for these fibre broadband services that promise faster speeds at cheaper prices.

The contractor rolling out the network, Opennet, cannot cope with the demand. As some 95 per cent of the island gets hooked up next month, the takeup for such services is only going to accelerate.

Yet, there is much to improve. If the first wave in the past two years is about takeup, then the next one has to be about improving the experience. Old ways of doing things need to go out of the window to give users the full improvements of fibre broadband.

Here are a few changes that will help. …