USER OWNERSHIP OF TELEPHONE EQUIPMENT

Dr Wang Kai Yuen asked the Minister for Communications and Information whether the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore will further relax its rules and regulations regarding terminal equipment such as telephone sets, branch exchanges (PABX) and other equipment, both in private homes and business premises, to allow user ownership of such equipment.

The Minister for Communications and Information (Dr Yeo Ning Hong): Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry's strategic objective in the field of telecommunications is to help bring about the "Information Age" in Singapore. Our policies are directed at making the communication of knowledge and information easy and convenient via the telephone. Such communication can be in the form of voice, picture or computer data, and can help individuals and businesses to increase their productivity.

Towards this end, Telecoms is encouraging the greater use and ownership of terminal equipment. At present, indivi- duals and businesses can purchase telephone sets, PABX's (Private Automatic Branch Exchange Equipment), modems and facsimile machines from any vendor of their choice.

These terminal equipment must be type-tested and approved by Telecoms for compatibility with the national telephone network to prevent such equipment from interfering with or degrading the performance of the network, thus causing inconvenience to other telephone users.

The use of other terminal equipment such as telex machines, pagers and mobile sets from private vendors is being studied. Once technical details are worked out, Telecoms would be in a position to approve the use of such equipment.