Singapore's infocomm industry is estimated to grow by 6 percent to 8 percent last year, gaining some 37 billion Singapore dollars (about 23 billion U.S. dollars) in revenues, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lee Boon Yang said Saturday night.

Speaking at an industry event, Lee said that the infocomm industry accounts for more than 6 percent of Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) currently.

Lee pointed out that Singapore should continue strengthening three fundamentals including infocomm infrastructure, manpower and local enterprises to stay ahead of the global competition.

Citing the country's plan to develop a next-generation National Broadband Network as announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his budget speech last Friday, Lee Boon Yang revealed that an infocomm masterplan, iN2015, will be finalized and formally launched in June this year.

Involving the public, private and people sectors, iN2015 will " spearhead sound and substantive strategies to sharpen Singapore's infocomm and economic competitiveness in the next decade," Lee said.

According to an annual survey conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore last year, 74 percent of households in the country own personal computers, and 28 percent have two or more.

Of those households with computers, about 66 percent enjoy Internet access while 52 percent using broadband.

Source: Xinhua