Singapore SMBs to Invest US$1.5B on Internet Access and Telecom Services in 2008

-- Spending on cell phones and long distance will make up 50% of
the above total, says AMI study --
SINGAPORE--(Business Wire)--
Small and medium businesses (SMBs, or companies with up to 999
employees) in Singapore are on track to invest up to US$1.5 billion on
Internet access and telecom services this year, up 3% over 2007.
Spending on cell phones and long-distance telephony services will make
up about 50% of the total, according to the latest study by New
York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

"We expect SMBs in Singapore to boost their spending on Internet
access and telecom services in the years to come," says Vu-Thanh
Nguyen, Singapore-based Research Analyst at AMI-Partners. "That's
because of the growing number of mobile and telecommuting employees,
the increasingly high penetration of notebooks among SMBs, the
Singapore government's initiative to grow the wireless broadband
market, and the growing popularity of Internet-enabled handheld
devices."

About half of Singapore's small businesses (SBs, or companies with
up to 99 employees) and 68% of medium businesses have staffs that are
increasingly mobile and need to travel on the job.

"Mobile employees make up from 10% to 50% of their workforce
depending on the vertical segment," says Vu-Thanh. "Consequently,
there is an increasingly high penetration of notebooks among SMBs.
Currently, there is one laptop for every three desktop PCs in a
typical Singapore SMB. More PC-owning SMBs are migrating from desktops
to notebook PCs, however."

The top three reasons for SMBs opting for notebook computers are
to save office space, to take advantage of their built-in Wi-Fi
capability in highly connected Singapore, and for ease of use, given
that most employees are either telecommuting or on the move.

The Singapore government has also initiated an island-wide
wireless broadband program called "Wireless@SG." This is program free
of charge and is targeted towards people on the move, including
tourists, business travelers, and enterprise users. This free service
offers connectivity speeds of up to 512 kbps. Many SMBs are opting to
purchase premium broadband services though to allow themselves higher
connectivity speed and quality of service.

"One key catalyst is the growing popularity of Internet-enabled
handheld devices," says Mr. Nguyen. "With the introduction of smart
phones at cheaper prices, there will be a higher adoption of these
devices by SMBs. With the wireless infrastructure in place, this will
encourage the usage of more bandwidth-intensive applications like VoIP
and video conferencing. This wireless infrastructure will help SMBs
reduce their spending on long-distance telephony services. At the same
time, service providers will increase revenues through connection
charges and new Web-based services such as enterprise email and CRM
systems."

Several vendors have been working to take advantage of this trend.
In June, Nokia announced its collaboration with the Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and wireless providers to try
an enhanced version of Wireless@SG in an effort to improve usability,
security, and WiFi usage among handheld-device users. SingTel
announced its winning bid to be a provider of IDA's SME Infocomm
Package initiative. This initiative will provide SMEs broadband
access, email, web hosting, push-mail, and other Web-based business
solutions in a single package.

About the Study

AMI's 2007 Singapore Small Business Market Overview and
Comprehensive Market Opportunity Assessment and 2007 Singapore Medium
Business Market Overview and Comprehensive Market Opportunity
Assessment studies highlight these and other major trends in the
context of current/planned IT, Internet and communications usage and
spending. Products and services covered include established and
emerging hardware, software, applications, and business process
solutions. Based on AMI's annual surveys of SMBs across Singapore, the
study track a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to budgets, purchase
behaviors, decision influencers, channel preferences, outsourcing,
service, and support. Also covered are detailed firmographics and
critically important technology attitudes and strategic planning
priorities. This data points to key opportunities and messaging hot
buttons for vendors and service providers seeking to match their
offerings to SMB market requirements.

For more information about this study, AMI-Partners, or our global
SMB research, call 212-944-5100, e-mail ask_ami@ami-partners.com, or
visit us at www.ami-partners.com.

About Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and
business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market
intelligence -- with a strong focus on global small and medium
businesses (SMBs), and extending into large enterprises and home-based
businesses. The AMI-Partners mission is to empower clients for success
with the highest quality data, business strategy perspectives, and
"go-to-market" solutions. Led by Andy Bose, the firm has built a
world-class management team with deep experience cutting across IT,
telecommunications, and business services sectors in established and
emerging markets.

AMI-Partners has helped shape the go-to-market SMB strategies of
more than 150 leading IT, Internet, telecommunications and business
services companies. The firm is well known for its IT and Internet
adoption-based segmentation of the SMB markets; its annual
retainership services based on global SMB tracking surveys in more
than 25 countries; and its proprietary database of SMBs and SMB
channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm
invests significantly in collecting survey-based information from
several thousand SMBs annually, and is considered the premier source
for global SMB trends and analysis.

Quoted Analyst:
Vu-Thanh Nguyen, (65) 6220 5535 - Ext: 111
TNguyen@ami-partners.com
or
Media Relations:
In US (New York):
Nancy Carty, 212-944-5100 - Ext: 581
NCarty@ami-partners.com
or
In EU (London):
Claudia Jachtmann, (44) 208 987 2756
CJachtmann@ami-partners.com
or
In Asia Pacific (Singapore):
Matthew Foo, (65) 6220 5535 - Ext: 101
MFoo@ami-partners.com
or
In India (Kolkata):
Dipendra Mitra, (91) 33 4003 3093 - Ext: 205
DMitra@ami-partners.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008