Singtel fined $1 million over March disruptions that hit 720,000 mobile subscribers

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has imposed a financial penalty of $1 million on Singtel Mobile for mobile service disruptions in March that affected about 720,000 mobile consumer and business subscribers.

The disruptions over a three-day period on March 16, 18 and 19 were within Singtel's control to prevent, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 20), highlighting that they were not due to a cyberattack.

On April 7, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, had said in a parliamentary reply that IMDA was investigating the incident , emphasising that service providers are required to ensure that service incidents are resolved within one hour.

Telcos who are unable to do so may face enforcement action and have financial penalties imposed, the minister stated, adding that service providers are also required to conduct regular audits on key telecom infrastructure for resilience.

In its statement, IMDA said that the March 16 disruption was caused by a chiller system failure at a Singtel Exchange.

This, in turn, caused the mobile network equipment at the Exchange to overheat and shut down.

The regulator noted that a Singtel vendor had failed to adhere to standard operating procedures that required them to reopen a manual valve controlling water flow after a scheduled maintenance.

It also found that Singtel did not actively monitor its manual valves or water flow to the chiller system.

"The service disruption on 16 March 2026 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," IMDA stated in its findings.

Meanwhile, the March 18 and 19 disruptions arose after 5G mobile traffic was redirected from the affected Exchange to another Exchange.

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 stated.

In this instance, the disruption could have been prevented if Singtel had exercised greater diligence to ensure that the other Exchange was able to handle the increased traffic load, the regulator said.

Financial penalty determination

IMDA said it took into account the scale and impact of the disruptions in determining the financial penalty, while also considering Singtel's actions.

These include its cooperation during investigations, effort to progressively restore mobile services for affected subscribers, and the goodwill rebates of $5 to $10 which amounted to around $8 million.

Singtel has since taken remediation measures to prevent a recurrence of the incidents by enhancing maintenance procedures and monitoring for the chiller systems, and rectifying the systems in the other Exchange.

It has also conducted exercises to better test its network failover effectiveness.

The regulator 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.

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

In 2025, Singtel was similarly hit with a $1 million fine for a nationwide landline outage that disrupted calls to public institutions and emergency services on Oct 8, 2024.

For about four hours that day, about half of the calls made to public service hotlines — including government agencies, banks and hospitals — could not be connected. The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force had urged the public to contact them via SMS instead.

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 对新加坡电信移动公司处以 100 万美元的罚款，原因是该公司在 3 月份的移动服务中断影响了约 72 万名移动消费者和企业用户。

监管机构周二（10月20日）在一份声明中表示，3月16日、18日和19日三天期间发生的网络中断是新加坡电信可以控制的，并非网络攻击所致。

4月7日，数码发展及新闻部长杨莉明在国会答复中表示，资讯通信媒体发展局（IMDA）正在调查这起事件，并强调服务提供商必须确保服务事件在一小时内得到解决。

部长表示，未能做到这一点的电信公司可能会面临执法行动和经济处罚，并补充说，服务提供商还必须定期对关键电信基础设施进行审计，以确保其弹性。

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局 (IMDA) 在声明中表示，3 月 16 日的电力中断是由新加坡电信 (Singtel) 交换机的冷却系统故障引起的。

这反过来又导致交换机的移动网络设备过热并关闭。

监管机构指出，新加坡电信的一家供应商未能遵守标准操作程序，该程序要求他们在计划维护后重新打开控制水流的手动阀门。

调查还发现，新加坡电信没有主动监控其手动阀门或冷水机组的水流量。

“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 2026 年 3 月 16 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) 在其调查结果中表示。

与此同时，3 月 18 日和 19 日的网络中断是由于 5G 移动流量从受影响的交换机重定向到另一个交换机造成的。

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。

监管机构表示，如果新加坡电信能够更加谨慎地确保其他交易所能够处理增加的流量负载，那么这次中断是可以避免的。

财务处罚裁定

新加坡资讯通信媒体发展局表示，在确定罚款金额时，他们既考虑了网络中断的规模和影响，也考虑了新加坡电信的行为。

其中包括在调查期间的配合、逐步恢复受影响用户的移动服务的努力，以及每人 5 至 10 美元的善意退款，总额约为 800 万美元。

此后，新加坡电信采取了补救措施，通过加强对冷水机组系统的维护程序和监控，以及纠正其他交易所的系统，来防止此类事件再次发生。

该公司还进行了演练，以更好地测试其网络故障转移的有效性。

监管机构表示，它要求作为关键服务提供商的电信公司保持“高水平的服务可靠性”。

“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快速恢复，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》采取强硬措施，包括处以罚款，”IMDA补充道。

2025 年，新加坡电信也因 2024 年 10 月 8 日全国范围内的固话线路中断，导致拨打公共机构和紧急服务的电话中断，而被处以 100 万美元的罚款。

当天约有四个小时的时间，拨打公共服务热线（包括政府机构、银行和医院的热线）的电话中，约有一半无法接通。警方和新加坡民防部队呼吁公众改用短信联系他们。