More poor households to get broadband & computers under new scheme

SINGAPORE - Over 8,000 low-income households will benefit from a new assistance scheme that will provide them with a 100Mbps home fibre broadband plan and a basic computing device for 4 years. 

The programme, called Home Access, draws from a new $10 million Digital Inclusion fund, which will comprise of government funds and financial penalties collected from telcos. This initiative was announced in April. 

The Home-Access programme will provide fibre broadband connectivity to eligible citizen households, allowing them to make digital phone calls or surf the Internet for $6 a month.

It  will help the households with no school-going children and a gross monthly income not exceeding $1,900, according to The Straits Times. 

There is also no scheme that addresses the technology needs of this group at the moment, said the report. 

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) will be working together with key stakeholders and partners to deploy these solutions over the next 4 years.

More details will be announced from mid-October onwards.

maryanns@sph.com.sg