The deadline for the submission of proposals has passed. IDA has received 19 proposals in total. Consortia that are shortlisted to present their proposals to the 3G CFC Evaluation Committee will be notified during the week of 19 Sept. The presentation to the Evaluation Committee will be on 4 Oct 2005.
The Call For Collaboration (CFC) on 3G Content and Services ("3G CFC") is part of a series of CFCs under IDA's Wired With Wireless Programme. This CFC aims to bring the local wireless industry together to develop and launch innovative content and services for 3G terminals, thereby accelerating the adoption of 3G in Singapore. The target audience of this CFC includes mobile operators, application developers, content providers, content aggregators, system integrators and equipment vendors.
The 3G CFC has the following two main objectives:
- To bring to market innovative 3G content and services. To many 3G mobile operators, both in Singapore and overseas, the main driver of 3G usage is downloading or streaming video content. However, IDA believes there are many other types of 3G content and services that will draw consumers and enterprises to 3G, and for which these users are prepared to pay a premium. Through this CFC, IDA aims to incentivise the development and launch of new 3G content and services that fully exploit the capabilities of the 3G platform.
- To grow the 3G mobile data services market in Singapore. The success of the 3G CFC will increase the demand for mobile data services in Singapore, thus leading to higher 3G usage and consequently higher ARPUs for the three mobile operators. Additionally, the CFC is expected to create new business opportunities and jobs along the mobile data services value chain, benefiting players such as content developers, system integrators and equipment vendors as well.
IDA intends the 3G CFC to be open, broad-based and flexible. The following types of content and services are potential areas for development under the CFC, but IDA will also consider proposals that fall outside of these categories:
- Online multimedia, multiplayer gaming
- Social interaction (e.g. instant multimedia messaging, video chat, mobile matchmaking)
- Multimedia content delivery (e.g. on-demand video clips, interactive greeting cards)
- Surveillance and remote monitoring (e.g. home, weather or traffic cameras)
- Mobile marketing and sales (e.g. push advertising, online shopping)
- Location-specific information delivery (e.g. buddy finder, restaurant finder, traffic information, tourist information)
- Enterprise solutions (e.g. mobile sales force enablement)
The content and services developed under the CFC need not be exclusively for 3G. However they should exhibit characteristics (e.g. media-rich, bandwidth-intensive) that suggest that they are best experienced on a 3G network.
An industry briefing was held on 5 July 2005 where IDA shared more information on this project with interested parties.
There were several requests from consortium leaders and industry players to extend the submission deadline and, after due consideration, we have decided to accede to these requests. Hence the submission deadline has been extended from 12 Aug to 31 Aug 2005.
For registration and more information, please send an email to CFC@ida.gov.sg.