Lower-Income S’pore Families Can Get Laptops From S$220 As Part Of Govt Connectivity Scheme

New Scheme Provides Cheaper Laptops & Tablets For Lower-Income Families

On Tuesday (28 Feb), Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo announced a new scheme in Parliament. Under the scheme, lower-income families can apply for subsidised broadband services and digital devices like laptops.

The scheme is called DigitalAccess@Home and seeks to promote connectivity among households in need.

According to the Ministry for Communications and Information (MCI), those eligible can benefit from the scheme from 3 Apr onwards.

New scheme helps to alleviate connectivity costs

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (28 Feb), Mrs Teo said that 92% of Singapore households have access to a computer.

Meanwhile, 99% of households have broadband services.

While this is the vast majority, the new S$80 million scheme aims to help the remaining percentage of households.

According to Mrs Teo, 60,000 low-income families will benefit from the scheme.

Households must fulfil certain criteria

To qualify for DigitalAccess@Home, households must meet three main criteria:

• must be living in a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat
• at least one member has to be Singaporean
• must not have a monthly gross income that exceeds S$1,900 or a per capita income of S$650

However, there is a higher income ceiling for families with primary school students or persons with disabilities.

In such cases, the gross and per capita income ceilings will be raised to S$3,400 and S$900 respectively.

Prices depend on type of flat

Mrs Teo highlighted that households eligible for the connectivity scheme can choose from three packages — broadband-only, device-only, or both broadband and device.

According to MCI, households have the freedom to choose between different broadband speeds and tablet as well as laptop models.

Furthermore, broadband and device prices will vary according to the type of HDB flat and the model chosen.

For broadband subscriptions, those staying in one to three-room flats stand to pay S$10 a month.

Meanwhile, households in bigger units have to pay S$15 a month.

However, those currently under Government assistance schemes such as the Public Rental Scheme only have to pay S$5 a month for 500 Mbps broadband.

As for digital devices, tablets range between S$75 to S$250 while laptops are in the S$220 to S$710 ballpark.

Eligible households can apply in April

To avoid the need for multiple applications, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will be working closely with other Government agencies.

For a start, the Ministry of Social and Family Development will automatically refer ComCare beneficiaries to DigitalAccess@Home when they sign up for the former.

Otherwise, applicants can apply online or through hard copy. Those who wish to seek more information may check out the Digital for Life website here.

They can also reach out to any of the SG Digital community hubs for help.

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Featured image adapted from Ryutaro Tsukata on Pexels.