The Annual Survey on Infocomm Industry for 2005 is the seventh edition in a series of infocomm industry surveys carried out by IDA that began in the 1990s. The aim of the Survey was to determine the market performance of Singapore's infocomm industry in 2005 and to identify the key development trends of the industry.
The sample was selected from the Establishment Sampling Frame maintained by the Department of Statistics (DOS). The sample was stratified by the Singapore Standard Classification of Industrial Codes (SSIC).
Fieldwork for the survey began in mid-January 2006 and ended in mid-April 2006.
Positive growth of the infocomm industry's revenue
In 2005, the revenue of the infocomm industry grew by 8.9% to reach S$37.89 billion (Figure 1). External demand, up by 11.0%, provided much of the growth impetus.
Figure 1: Revenue1 Growth of the Infocomm Industry
Hardware market segment continues to dominate the infocomm industry
The composition of the infocomm industry did not change significantly from 2003 to 2005 with the Hardware market segment having the highest share of the infocomm industry's revenue, followed by the Telecommunication Services segment (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Infocomm Industry's Revenue by Market Segments2
Projected positive growth for 2006 to 2007
The outlook for Singapore's infocomm industry is expected to be bright with respondents projecting a positive revenue growth of 6.0% in 2006 and 4.2% in 2007. This is lower than the growth rate of 2005. In general, respondents have been conservative in their estimation of growth rates.
Positive growth for the top three market segments
In 2005, almost all the market segments experienced positive growth. The Hardware segment was the main contributor to the growth of the infocomm industry's revenue, with its large base in 2005 and the highest growth rate.
Going forward, respondents projected positive growth for all market segments for 2006 and 2007, reflecting their positive sentiments for the infocomm landscape. As in previous surveys, there is a tendency for respondents to be conservative in their projections.
Figure 3: Revenue Growth by Market Segments
Export market continues to be the larger contributor to the infocomm industry's revenue
As in previous years, the export market (58%) contributed more to the total infocomm industry's revenue than the domestic market (42%) in 2005.
The composition of the domestic market differed from that of the export market with the Telecommunication Services segment dominating the domestic market whereas the Hardware segment had the largest share of the export market.
Figure 4: Breakdown of the Infocomm Industry's Revenue between the Domestic and Export Markets
Base: Revenues in 2005 (Total-$37.89 billion, Domestic-$15.83 billion and Export-$22.06 billion).
The domestic market rebounded from its negative growth in 2004 to register a positive growth of 6.2% in 2005. The growth in 2005 was driven by the Hardware segment (36.6% growth) which had the second largest share of the domestic market and the Telecommunication Services segment (4.9% growth) which accounted for about two-fifths of total domestic revenue.
Figure 5: Domestic Market Composition by Market Segments
Respondents projected positive growth for almost all domestic market segments for 2006 and 2007, except for a slight negative growth projected for the Hardware segment for 2006.
Figure 6: Domestic Market Growth by Market Segments
The export market spurred most of the infocomm industry's revenue growth in 2005 with its 11.0% growth. All the export market segments registered positive growth in 2005 with the two largest segments (Software and Hardware) registering the two highest growth rates at 16.4% and 10.4% respectively.
Figure 7: Export Market Composition by Market Segments
Respondents projected positive growth for almost all the export market segments for 2006 and 2007, except for a slight negative growth projected for the Software segment for 2006.
Figure 8: Export Market Growth by Market Segments
1 Revenue of the infocomm industry is defined as Export sales and End-User sales in Singapore i.e. revenue excludes OEM/Other Resellers' sales. Domestic revenue is defined by End-User sales in Singapore and export revenue is defined by Export sales.
2 "Software" includes application solutions software, development tools, system infrastructure software, component and embedded software.
"IT Services" includes consulting services, implementation services, operation management services, processing services, managed services operations, IT education and training and support services.
"Telecommunication Services" includes basic fixed lines services, mobile and wireless voice communication services, mobile and wireless data communication services and Internet access services/Internet service providers.
"Content Services" includes both digital and non-digital content services. Digital content services include digital content processing, digital content management and digital content application.