Page 1 SingTel report shows S'pore economy is almost doomed

[besotted]

Why? Because all Allen Lew can think about is games, Xbox, Playstation

All these kiddo stuff are useless. We need real production, real value added, not these juvenile stuff

Look at Japan now after the 80's boom - two decades the economy stood still after they got idiotic with games, anime and cosplay

We need refineries, pharma, trade financing - not games.

Better hire a China Mobile top exec to run SingTel. PRC talent is the best, anytime, anywhere.



http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,420105,00.html?

Top Print Edition Stories
Published January 3, 2011

SingTel steps up its game to make consumers see 'light'
Telco to start video-game rental service using fibre-optic network


By WINSTON CHAI


(SINGAPORE) Besides watching Web-based TV, Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) plans to have consumers playing the latest Xbox and PlayStation titles too right out of its latest set-top box.




This quarter, Singapore's largest operator will introduce a new video-game rental service in a bid to jumpstart ultra high-speed broadband adoption.

Instead of relying on physical discs, these games will actually be delivered to subscribers over the country's latest fibre-optic Internet network.

Subscribers can browse and play games through their set-top boxes with a monthly subscription, much like how they access pay-TV services today.

While this concept is not new, the minting of Singapore's new fibre-optic broadband superhighway gives companies such as SingTel the ability to go beyond offering the simple puzzle games of today to realistic, graphics-intensive shooters and racing titles that are usually confined to dedicated gaming consoles.


'As long as they (customers) have a fibre connection, they can play these games.'

- Allen Lew,
CEO of SingTel Singapore



'We're talking about your Tour of Duty and FIFA 2011-type games,' said Allen Lew, CEO of SingTel Singapore.

Fibre-optic technology relies on light-transmitting cables to deliver a massive increase in Internet speeds. Singapore's new network, the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next-Gen NBN), became partly operational in September last year and is expected to be rolled out islandwide by end 2012.

The bandwidth boost gives SingTel the ability to sell gaming in the same way IT giants such as Google and Salesforce.com use cloud-computing technologies to market their products and services.

'As long as they (customers) have a fibre connection, they can play these games,' Mr Lew told BT in a recent interview. 'We've talked about cloud services for businesses. Now this is a true cloud service for the consumer.'

The operator is currently one of five companies that are offering fibre-optic broadband access today.

Besides usual rivals StarHub and M1, two new contenders - SuperInternet and LGA Telecom - also threw their hats into the ring when the Next-Gen NBN opened for business earlier last year.

SingTel owns most of the broadband infrastructure that is used by consumers and businesses today. However, the arrival of a new network also brings with it a new government regime where the fibre-optic infrastructure is neutrally operated and available to all companies on the same terms and conditions.

With broadband access set to become the lowest common denominator, SingTel is turning to add-on services such as gaming to try and stand out from the crowd.

This comes on top of a recently launched video search engine that allows consumers to create their own TV channels by collating video clips from sites such as YouTube. SingTel's soon-to-be-launched gaming foray will be offered through the same set-top box that is used for the video service.

Besides gaming, other consumer services that are set to make their debut in 2011 include a 'business class' mobile broadband service that gives subscribers priority access to its network, Mr Lew said.

There will also be more record label tie-ups for Amped, SingTel's free music service, as well as more pay-television packages that bundle the Barclays Premier League with other 'clearly differentiated' content such as its Malay programmes, he revealed.

 

[tonychat]

This is what happen when you have a govt backed up company. Govt do not know how to do business.

 

[Char_Azn]

Why? Because all Allen Lew can think about is games, Xbox, Playstation

All these kiddo stuff are useless. We need real production, real value added, not these juvenile stuff

Look at Japan now after the 80's boom - two decades the economy stood still after they got idiotic with games, anime and cosplay

We need refineries, pharma, trade financing - not games.

Better hire a China Mobile top exec to run SingTel. PRC talent is the best, anytime, anywhere.

FYI, the video gaming industry have already overtaken the movie industry. You might want to revise your statement.

And this Singtel latest idea has already been launched in the US, it's called Onlive.

However, I am not sure given the small market here whether it will be sustainable

 

[cockie]

This is what happen when you have a govt backed up company. Govt do not know how to do business.

Bird Brain! StarHub & M1 is also partial "Singapore Goverment Investment Company" OWNED.......!

Dumb Ass :oIo:

 

[eErotica69]

This is what happen when you have a govt backed up company. Govt do not know how to do business.

What about a Military Junta backed up Government?

 

[SIFU]

This is what happen when you have a govt backed up company. Govt do not know how to do business.

CB kia tonychat,

stop bragging about your 1 man (YOU the okt) + 1 duck/chicken (your prostitute ladyboy wife) 'business empire' again. :oIo::oIo::oIo:

 

[Char_Azn]

CB kia tonychat,

stop bragging about your 1 man (YOU the okt) + 1 duck/chicken (your prostitute ladyboy wife) 'business empire' again. :oIo::oIo::oIo:

I wonder if he realize that the "SG Govt Backed Company" also owns a large part of one of the biggest telco in Thailand.

 

[garlic]

'We're talking about your Tour of Duty and FIFA 2011-type games,' said Allen Lew, CEO of SingTel Singapore.

He is just spewing, regurgitating from some scripts which others wrote for him to speak like a parrot. There is no popular "tour of duty" game titles.. the franchise is Call of duty.. think he knows shit about gaming...

 

[Watchman]

Tour of Duty (TV Series 1987–1990)

 

[cooleo]

Sinktel can't even handle it's core businesses well....Internet speed and cable tv lagging like shit, still wanna dabble in gaming! CCB!!!!

 

[123456787654321]

Won't be doomed lar, may lose lots of money, but not doomed lar.

 

[drifter]

besotted Why? Because all Allen Lew can think about is games, Xbox, Playstation

All these kiddo stuff are u eless. We need real production, real value added, not these juvenile stuff

Look at Japan now after the 80's boom - two decades the economy stood still after they got idiotic with games, anime and cosplay

We need refineries, pharma, trade financing - not games.



Japan's Gundam robot crushes Chinese imitator


TOKYO (AFP) - - Japan's 18 metre (60 foot) tall Gundam combat robot, hero to millions of sci-fi animation fans, emerged victorious Monday after apparently banishing a lookalike rival from a Chinese amusement park.

Japanese devotees of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime series had been up in arms after television news reports showed a giant golden figure that closely resembled their beloved battle-bot towering over a fun park in China.

Japan's Fuji Television showed images of the robot, of similar height and with similar features to a giant Gundam that has been on show and drawn large crowds in Tokyo and then coastal Shizuoka in recent months.

Like Gundam, the Chinese figure bears the logos EFSF and WB on its shoulders -- short, as all Gundam fans know, for 'Earth Federation Space Force', which controls space colonies, and 'White Base', Gundam's mothership.

A spokesman for China's Floraland park in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was quoted as telling Fuji TV that the design was "completely original", but that the park was "remodelling" it because some people said it looked like Gundam.

On a Japanese chatroom, one outraged writer thundered that "they have no shame", another critiqued the Chinese robot's colour scheme, and a third suggested it should be called "Gansaku" -- Japanese for "counterfeit".

Gundam's human defence forces were readying for a possible copyright battle.

"We have got information that a copied statue of 'Mobile Suit Gundam' is being built at a theme park in Sichuan," said an official of Sotsu Co., which handles trademark and merchandising issues for the TV and movie series.

"We are now collecting information as the details are still unclear."

Officials at the Chinese theme park denied the existence of the statue on Monday. A witness told AFP the statue had been removed from the premises.

The Gundam anime series, first aired in Japan in 1979, and its spin-offs, have won legions of enthusiastic fans in many countries, including China.

The copyright battle may not be over yet. Fuji network also showed figures at the park that resembled characters from Japan's "Ultraman" sci-fi series.

Permalink

 

[GoldenDragon]

Won't be doomed lar, may lose lots of money, but not doomed lar.

lose lots of money = not doomed = insane person.
Any insane person ever said he is doomed? Even when they have no money, lost their mind they also very happy. Never doomed.

 

[myo539]

Spelling mistake. Should be "boomed".

SINGAPORE : Singapore's economy grew 12.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, a record year in which the city state was Asia's strongest economic performer, government figures showed Monday.

Singapore grew 14.7 percent for the year as a whole, the figures confirmed, bounding back from a 1.3 percent contraction in 2009 in part thanks to the biomedical sector.

"At 14.7 percent, Singapore is the fastest growing Asian economy in 2010," said Alvin Liew, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank based in the city.
Singapore is Asia's fastest growing economy in 2010

Globally, only Qatar is thought to have grown faster, with growth in the energy-rich Gulf economy projected at 16 percent for 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Within Asia, economic powerhouse China is forecast to grow by around 10 percent this year.


Last year's growth was Singapore's best ever economic performance, surpassing the previous record of 13.8 percent set in 1970 and within the government's projected range of 13-15 percent.

Growth in the October-December quarter was powered largely by the manufacturing sector, which expanded 28.2 percent from a year ago, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement.

Strength in manufacturing, which accounts for a quarter of gross domestic product (GDP), cushioned the impact of a 1.2 percent decline in construction activity.

Manufacturing growth "was led by the biomedical manufacturing cluster, which saw a strong rebound in pharmaceutical output," the ministry said.

For the service sector, which accounts for 65 percent of Singapore's GDP, output surged 8.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

"We continue to expect the economy to grow by seven percent in 2011, with the services sector being the key driver of growth as well as job creation," analysts from Singapore's DBS bank said in market commentary.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who announced the full-year growth figure in his New Year speech on Friday, called for caution after last year's exceptional showing.

"The outlook for the world economy is mixed," Lee said in his message. "We should rejoice in this exceptional performance, but please remember that it is also the result of special circumstances, and so is unlikely to be repeated soon.

"There are significant concerns: the US economy is still weak. Europe faces serious debt crises in Greece, Ireland and a few other countries."

The prime minister said growth in 2011 would likely moderate to 4.0-6.0 percent.

Singapore's GDP, valued at S$247.33 billion (US$191 billion) in 2009, is highly dependent on external trade and any slip-up in the global economy would affect the city-state's economy.

Its GDP shrank 1.3 percent in 2009 because of the global downturn when demand from the United States and other developed economies collapsed.

"Singapore has had a truly remarkable recovery from the global financial crisis and has record growth numbers to prove it," said Leif Eskesen, a chief regional economist with Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

"However, we are now going to enter more 'normal' times," said Eskesen, who is predicting growth of 5.2 percent for this year.

The ministry said in the statement it would provide more details of the economy's performance for the fourth quarter and 2010 next month.

- AFP/ch

 

[myo539]

I wonder if he realize that the "SG Govt Backed Company" also owns a large part of one of the biggest telco in Thailand.

...and Indonesia?

 

[Char_Azn]

...and Indonesia?

Last I heard, the Indon government claims Temasek Holdings own "all major Indon telecom by proxy". Funny how they got "secretly taken over" by SG and never realize it :p:p:p

Nah I just wanted to point out to the Idiot Tonychat he doesn't know what he is talking about. if we want to list all the telcos Temasek, Singtel and whatever other GLC have a hand in(Austrlia, Bangladesh, India, etc), the list is endless

 

[123456787654321]

lose lots of money = not doomed = insane person.
Any insane person ever said he is doomed? Even when they have no money, lost their mind they also very happy. Never doomed.

You can lose lots of money, but you can always bounce back.

Yeap, an insane person wouldn't care if he is doomed because he wouldn't know. But he's better off than someone like you, who thinks that just because a lot of money is lost one is doomed. There are worse things than losing a lot of money. Are you the kind of loser that sees a big failure as being doomed? There's always a chance to bounce back, but being a loser you probably just slide all the way down. :p

 

[Received_by_Kings]

Tour of Duty (TV Series 1987–1990)

How nostalgic.