Who will dominate Singapore's internet ?

Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent are among the 12 companies and groups vying to build Singapore's Internet Network, according to the state's regulator. Singapore needs advanced telecommunications infrastructure to stay competitive with rivals in the region, including Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo.

The island-nation intends to construct a national high-speed Internet infrastructure with speeds of at least one gigabit for 95 percent of all homes and businesses by 2012. This will "ensure competitiveness in our infocomm sector and facilitate the development of diverse new services for businesses and individuals," said Vivian Balakrishnan, second minister for Information, Communications and the Arts.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, StarHub, Singapore Telecommunications, Cisco Systems and Ericsson were also among the few that were pre-qualified by the city-state to participate in the so-called Next Generation National Broadband Network. The winning bidder is expected to be revealed in December.

With these big names in the running to contribute to Singapore's Internet Network, will this spur adverse effects on current leaders Starhub and Singnet? And will individual bidders have offerings that give them an edge over the others? Who will win this contest? What are your thoughts on this?