Singtel fined S$1 million over mobile service disruptions in March that affected 720,000 users

The disruptions on Mar 16, Mar 18 and Mar 19 could have been prevented by Singtel and were not due to a cyberattack, IMDA's investigation found.

Singtel company signage is seen on a building facade at the central business district in Singapore on Mar 14, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)

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SINGAPORE: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has imposed a financial penalty of S$1 million (US$782,000) on Singtel for mobile service disruptions in March .

The disruptions, which occurred on Mar 16, Mar 18 and Mar 19 this year, affected about 720,000 of Singtel’s mobile consumer and business subscribers, IMDA said on Tuesday (Oct 20).

The disruption on Mar 16 lasted for about nine hours.

Singtel users started experiencing mobile connectivity issues from about 10.30am, with 4G services restored by around 1.30pm. The telco’s 5G services were progressively restored from 2.45pm but full 5G services were not restored until about 8pm that day.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less The disruption on Mar 18 was resolved within an hour, Singtel’s CEO Ng Tian Chong said previously. INVESTIGATION FINDINGS IMDA’s investigation found that the service disruption on Mar 16 was caused by a chiller system failure at a Singtel exchange. This caused the mobile network equipment at the exchange to overheat and shut down, IMDA said. “This resulted from a failure by Singtel’s vendor to follow standard operating procedures to reopen a manual valve controlling water flow after a scheduled maintenance, and the lack of active monitoring by Singtel of its manual valves or water flow to the chiller system,” the authority added. Investigations by IMDA also found that the disruptions on Mar 18 and Mar 19 arose after 5G mobile traffic was redirected from the affected exchange to another Singtel exchange after the disruption on Mar 16. “The increased 5G mobile traffic load, coupled with a disabled network packet optimiser and a software bug at the other exchange, resulted in intermittent connectivity for some Singtel subscribers during the evenings on both days,” IMDA said. The packet optimiser optimises data throughput and latency by routing data packets using the most optimal pathways.

The disruption on Mar 18 was resolved within an hour, Singtel’s CEO Ng Tian Chong said previously.

INVESTIGATION FINDINGS

IMDA’s investigation found that the service disruption on Mar 16 was caused by a chiller system failure at a Singtel exchange.

This caused the mobile network equipment at the exchange to overheat and shut down, IMDA said.

“This resulted from a failure by Singtel’s vendor to follow standard operating procedures to reopen a manual valve controlling water flow after a scheduled maintenance, and the lack of active monitoring by Singtel of its manual valves or water flow to the chiller system,” the authority added.

Investigations by IMDA also found that the disruptions on Mar 18 and Mar 19 arose after 5G mobile traffic was redirected from the affected exchange to another Singtel exchange after the disruption on Mar 16.

“The increased 5G mobile traffic load, coupled with a disabled network packet optimiser and a software bug at the other exchange, resulted in intermittent connectivity for some Singtel subscribers during the evenings on both days,” IMDA said.

The packet optimiser optimises data throughput and latency by routing data packets using the most optimal pathways.

IMDA said its investigation concluded that the incidents were within Singtel’s control to prevent and that they were not due to a cyberattack.

The disruption on Mar 16 could have been prevented if Singtel had implemented robust frameworks, procedures, and systems to better monitor the operations of its chiller system at the affected exchange, it said.

“The service disruptions on Mar 18 and Mar 19 could also have been prevented if Singtel had exercised greater diligence to ensure that the other Exchange was able to handle the increased traffic load that arose from the switchover from the affected exchange,” IMDA said.

In determining Singtel’s financial penalty of S$1 million, IMDA said it took into account the scale and impact of the disruption.

The authority said the impact of the disruptions was “significant” given the number of subscribers affected.

However, IMDA also took into account several other factors, such as Singtel’s full cooperation during the investigations.

The authority also considered the telco’s effort to progressively restore its mobile services for affected subscribers with 4G services restored first, followed by the progressive restoration of 5G services over the duration of the incident.

Lastly, IMDA also took into account the goodwill rebates of S$5 to S$10 that Singtel proactively extended to affected subscribers, with the total payout amounting to about S$8 million for consumer and business subscribers.

Since the disruptions, Singtel has taken necessary remediation measures to prevent the incidents from recurring, IMDA said.

These include enhancing maintenance procedures and monitoring for the chiller system, rectifying the systems in the other exchange and conducting exercises to test how effectively the network can switch traffic elsewhere during a failure.

IMDA said it holds telcos, which are key service providers, to a high level of service reliability.

“These service providers are required to plan, design and operate resilient networks, and put in place measures to ensure speedy recovery with minimal inconvenience to end-users in the event of a disruption,” the authority said.

“IMDA will not hesitate to take strong action under the Telecommunications Act, including imposing financial penalties, should any lapses be identified.”

Separately, in December last year, Singtel was also fined S$1 million over a 2024 landline outage that affected half a million users and emergency services.

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新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 的调查发现，3 月 16 日、18 日和 19 日发生的网络中断原本可以由新加坡电信 (Singtel) 防止，并非网络攻击所致。

2025年3月14日，新加坡中央商务区一栋建筑外墙上出现了新加坡电信（Singtel）公司的标志。（图片：法新社/罗斯兰·拉赫曼）

这段音频是由人工智能工具生成的。

新加坡：新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 对新加坡电信 (Singtel) 处以 100 万新元（78.2 万美元）的罚款，原因是该公司在 3 月份的移动服务中断。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）周二（10月20日）表示，今年3月16日、18日和19日发生的网络中断影响了新加坡电信约72万名移动消费者和企业用户。

3月16日发生的故障持续了约9个小时。

新加坡电信用户从上午10点30分左右开始遇到移动网络连接问题，4G服务在下午1点30分左右恢复。该公司的5G服务从下午2点45分开始逐步恢复，但直到当天晚上8点左右才完全恢复。

CNA游戏 猜词游戏 逐行破解单词 流行词游戏 用给定的字母组成单词 迷你数独 小小的谜题，强大的脑力挑战 迷你填字游戏 小方格，大挑战 单词搜索 尽可能多地找出单词 显示更多 显示更少 新加坡电信首席执行官黄天冲此前表示，3月18日的网络中断在一个小时内得到解决。 调查结果 新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）的调查发现，3月16日的网络中断是由新加坡电信交换机的冷却系统故障引起的。IMDA表示，这导致交换机的移动网络设备过热并关闭。该机构补充说：“这是由于新加坡电信的供应商未能按照标准操作程序在计划维护后重新打开控制水流的手动阀门，以及新加坡电信缺乏对其手动阀门或冷却系统水流的主动监控造成的。”新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）的调查还发现，3月18日和19日的网络中断是由于3​​月16日网络中断后，受影响交换机的5G移动流量被重定向到另一个新加坡电信（Singtel）交换机所致。IMDA表示：“5G移动流量负载增加，加上另一个交换机的网络数据包优化器被禁用以及软件故障，导致部分新加坡电信用户在这两天的晚上出现间歇性网络连接中断。” 数据包优化器通过使用最优路径路由数据包来优化数据吞吐量和降低延迟。

新加坡电信首席执行官吴天冲此前表示，3月18日发生的网络中断事件在一个小时内得到解决。

调查结果

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 的调查发现，3 月 16 日的服务中断是由新加坡电信 (Singtel) 交换机的冷却系统故障引起的。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）表示，这导致该交换机的移动网络设备过热并关闭。

该机构补充说：“这是由于新加坡电信的供应商在计划维护后未能按照标准操作程序重新打开控制水流的手动阀门，以及新加坡电信对其手动阀门或冷水机组水流缺乏主动监控造成的。”

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 的调查还发现，3 月 18 日和 3 月 19 日的网络中断是由于 3 月 16 日的网络中断后，5G 移动流量从受影响的交换机重定向到另一个新加坡电信交换机而引起的。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 表示：“5G 移动流量负载增加，加上网络数据包优化器被禁用以及另一交换机的软件故障，导致部分新加坡电信用户在两天晚上出现间歇性网络连接问题。”

数据包优化器通过使用最优路径路由数据包来优化数据吞吐量和延迟。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局表示，其调查结论认为，这些事件在新加坡电信的控制范围内，可以预防，并非网络攻击所致。

该公司表示，如果新加坡电信实施了健全的框架、程序和系统，更好地监控受影响交易所的冷水机组的运行情况，那么 3 月 16 日的中断是可以避免的。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局表示：“如果新加坡电信能够更加谨慎地确保其他交换中心能够处理因从受影响的交换中心切换而增加的流量负载，那么3月18日和19日的服务中断是可以避免的。”

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 表示，在决定对新加坡电信处以 100 万新元的罚款时，已考虑到此次中断的规模和影响。

该机构表示，考虑到受影响的用户数量，此次中断的影响“十分显著”。

然而，新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）也考虑了其他几个因素，例如新加坡电信在调查期间的全力配合。

该机构还考虑了这家电信公司为受影响用户逐步恢复移动服务的努力，首先恢复了 4G 服务，然后在事件期间逐步恢复了 5G 服务。

最后，新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 还考虑了新加坡电信主动向受影响用户提供的 5 至 10 新元的善意折扣，消费者和企业用户的总赔付额约为 800 万新元。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局表示，自网络中断事件发生以来，新加坡电信已采取必要的补救措施，以防止此类事件再次发生。

这些措施包括加强对冷水机组系统的维护程序和监控，纠正其他交换机中的系统，以及进行演练以测试网络在发生故障时将流量切换到其他地方的有效性。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局表示，它对作为关键服务提供商的电信公司有着很高的服务可靠性要求。

该机构表示：“这些服务提供商必须规划、设计和运营具有弹性的网络，并采取措施确保在发生中断时能够迅速恢复，并将对最终用户的不便降到最低。”

“如果发现任何违规行为，IMDA将毫不犹豫地根据《电信法》采取强有力的行动，包括处以罚款。”

另外，去年 12 月，新加坡电信还因 2024 年发生的固定电话线路中断事件被罚款 100 万新元，该事件影响了 50 万用户和紧急服务部门。

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