Singapore yellow pages offers e-phone book

Phone books and yellow pages usually conjure up ideas of heavy volumes marked with pens or, worse still, pages torn out. This year, however, Singapore consumers will see upcoming residential listings going onto CD-ROMs. SingTel Yellow Pages, which issues the phone books, will offer hyperlinks and interactive road maps on the CD-ROMs. This means consumers can get on the Internet to pinpoint the exact location of the addresses they want. Subscribers to residential lines will have a choice between whether they wish to bulk down with the "e-phone books" or go for the tried-and-tested paper versions. They can make their options at the distribution centers. Companies will receive their residential listings on CD-ROM format by default. "By issuing the CD-ROMs with its many enhanced features, we believe that users will find the Singapore Phone Book more user-friendly, helping them retrieve information more conveniently and efficiently," Yow Tau Keon, CEO of SingTel Yellow Pages, said in a statement. CNET Singapore's Susan Tsang reported from Singapore.