TELECOMMUNICATION AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE (Sourcing of personal computers)

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong asked the Minister for Communications and Information, in line with the Government's intention that the private sector be the engine of growth, why is the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore sourcing personal computers from Chartered Electronics Industries Pte Ltd, a Government-owned company, instead of from local private manufacturers.

The Minister for Communications and Information (Dr Yeo Ning Hong): Mr Speaker, Sir, Telecom is not sourcing personal computers, as assumed in the Member's Question. The Member is probably referring to Teleview terminals which will be used very shortly when the Teleview system is available publicly.

Sir, to keep costs down and to make the Teleview system as widely available as possible, and as soon as possible, Telecom has, instead of doing inhouse R & D and manufacturing its own terminals, decided to work together with other companies that have such capabilities. After assessing the R&D and manufacturing capabilities of a number of possible partners, Telecom has proceeded with two projects.

The first is the research and development into a dedicated Teleview terminal to be used specifically for Teleview purposes. Telecom has been working with Marconi Command and Control System Ltd of the United Kingdom on this project for some years.

More recently, Telecom is also developing together with Chartered Electronics Industries Pte Ltd a special Teleview terminal, an intelligent terminal, as it is called, with the ability to serve also as a personal computer. It will be a Teleview-cum-PC terminal. Such dual purpose terminals can help keep the cost of the terminal down and to make it attractive for large numbers of people to get on to the Teleview system.

Telecom and the Chartered Electronics Industries Pte Ltd are also developing together other special accessories, including hardware cards and specialised software. These can be used to adapt any IBM AT or compatible personal computer to access Teleview.

Sir, the Teleview system is the most advanced photo-videotext presently available. Terminals to access Teleview are not available off the shelf either in Singapore or in any other country. Hence, the need for joint development with the different companies.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: Sir, is a tender called for choosing of partners in the research? Does the partnership in development also include the manufacturing of PCs? Are local companies being approached for such a venture?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, as far as research and development is concerned, it is not possible to go out with a tender and ask for participants. Therefore no such tender has been made. The engineers in Telecom are familiar with the capabilities of the different companies in Singapore, so, what Telecom has done is to approach a number of companies which may have similar capabilities with talent that may fit Telecom's R & D requirements. Telecom has looked at a number of these companies, and on the basis of the most attractive offer and the best fit with the objective of getting the Teleview system available as soon as possible, Telecom has settled on Chartered Electronics Industries.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: Sir, when the development has completed, will Telecom consider tendering out the PCs rather than following up with CEI in the manufacture of PCs?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, part of the contract for the R&D, which involves quite obviously capital investment on the part of the company itself, is for the manufacture of the terminal that will be developed. I want to emphasise to the Member that it is not a PC that is being developed. It is an intelligent Teleview terminal. Because the components have such a large overlap with that of a conventional PC, modifications have been made to the terminal so that it can function as a PC.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: Sir, is it not then that what Telecom is doing is not in line with the Government's intention that the private sector be the engine of growth?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, I do not understand the Member's question. As far as I see it, and as my colleague, the Second Minister for Defence (Services) has mentioned a moment ago, a Government-owned company is as much a part of the private sector and the engine of growth. Just because the ownership is in the hands of the Finance Minister does not make that contributive of company any less important. If the company were to be sold tomorrow, it does not make one bit of a difference to the economy of Singapore. What is important is that they are able to be competitive. If Telecom had found another partner in Singapore, Telecom would have been just as happy working with that other company, developing the intelligent terminal. And then as part of the contract, to tie up with the manufacture of that particular terminal.

Sir, we have been working together with a British company for a long time producing the Mark I terminal. The Member has not been unhappy with that all this time. We are now developing with Marconi the Mark II terminal. The Member has not been uncomfortable with that at all. So I do not understand why the Member should be uncomfortable now that we are developing a terminal with a local company, Chartered Electronics Industries.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: Sir, is the Minister saying that a Government-owned company is no different from privately-owned companies and that a privately-owned company stands on the same equal footing as a Government-owned company? Secondly, I agree with the Minister that I have no quarrels with Marconi, because we do not have the technology. But here the question is: can Marconi not work with a locally-owned company which manufactures PCs instead of the Government?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, the Member is obviously not aware of what is going on. It is not the technology of Marconi that we are interested. It is the expertise. We had done this job ourselves. Telecom has completed the development of the Teleview system. The system is likely to be much better than systems available elsewhere in the world. We could have done it all by ourselves if we so wish. But it would probably take us a few more years, by which time it may be superseded by new technology. So when you are working in a high-tech industry, you have to move quickly. And rather than go out and recruit a very large number of research engineers into Telecom to funnel them into this particular project so that we can bring the project to fruition as quickly as possible, Telecom does what is most natural, which is to scout around to see where talent in this field is. We found it in CEI. That is how the project has progressed the way it did. So we are able to launch the Teleview system soon. There will be three ways of accessing the Teleview system.

Firstly, through the Marconi-built Teleview dedicated terminal. In other words, that terminal can only access Teleview and nothing else. Secondly, we are working together with CEI to come out with an intelligent Teleview terminal which will modify the previous terminal to give it the capabilities of a Personal Computer. Thirdly, for members of the public who have already got a PC, what Telecom and CEI are doing is to develop new hardware and software which can adapt the owner's own PC to access Teleview.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: Sir, is the Minister saying that Telecom has actually scouted around Singapore and found that the expertise in CEI is not found in any local company?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, the expertise in CEI gives Telecom the best fit and it gives Telecom the greatest confidence that the project can be handled within cost and within schedule.

Mr Philip Tan Tee Yong: My question is whether Telecom has actually gone round to see the local companies and found that the expertise was not there and that was why Telecom had to resort to CEI?

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, we have looked at a number of companies. It is not proper to name the companies that Telecom has looked at and has decided not to go into partnership with.