5,000 users hit by broadband services outage, IMDA preliminary findings show cut cable during construction works
Barring unforeseen circumstances, broadband services affecting parts of Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sengkang and Punggol are expected to be progressively restored by Sunday morning, said NetLink Trust.
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SINGAPORE: Construction activity damaged fibre infrastructure, leading to a service outage which affected broadband services for around 5,000 users in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sengkang and Punggol.
NetLink Trust, which owns and operates the fibre network infrastructure of Singapore's Nationwide Broadband Network, said on Saturday (Apr 18) that it experienced a fibre service outage.
"Preliminary findings indicate a cable cut during construction works led to the disruption," said the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) in response to CNA queries.
The authority said it has asked NetLink Trust to identify and repair the damaged cables expeditiously, including diagnosing the extent of the damage and determining the best means to repair the affected fibre cables.
"IMDA will continue its investigations into this incident and will not hesitate to take strong action against errant parties under the Telecommunications Act, should any lapses be identified", it said.
In a statement on its website at 3pm, NetLink Trust said that the fibre service disruption was caused by a third-party contractor carrying out construction activity.
The errant third-party contractor was not engaged by NetLink Trust, it said.
"We take a serious view of such disruption in services caused by errant contractors and will not hesitate to take necessary actions against the errant party."
The outage has affected some broadband services in parts of Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sengkang and Punggol, said NetLink Trust.
Approximately 5,000 end-user connections may be affected by this incident, it said.
In a 7pm update, NetLink Trust said: "Preliminary investigations indicate that the disruption was caused by damage to fibre infrastructure during third-party construction works."
It said that its technical teams are on-site and working to restore services as quickly and safely as possible.
"Due to site constraints and wet weather conditions, additional safety precautions are required, which may affect restoration timings," it added.
"At this time, services are expected to be progressively restored by tomorrow morning, barring unforeseen circumstances."
In a separate update at 11pm, NetLink Trust said some affected connections have been restored, and that its teams would work through the night to complete repair works.
"At this time, full restoration remains expected by tomorrow morning, barring unforeseen circumstances," it said.
Outage-tracking website Downdetector showed spikes in reports related to Singtel, StarHub, M1 and MyRepublic's broadband internet services at about 10.45am on Saturday, with reports continuing to be made subsequently.
A spike in reports was recorded for Simba, although most of these reports were related to its mobile internet services.
In a Facebook post at 11.45am, Singtel said: "We are aware that some customers may be experiencing issues accessing their fibre broadband services.
"We understand it may be related to some on-site construction activities (that are) affecting all operators.
"Our engineers are investigating."
M1 said it detected a disruption over NetLink Trust’s fibre network on Saturday morning, “which impacted some fixed broadband across all operators including M1”.
“While NetLink Trust worked towards a resolution, M1 had reached out to affected customers and we will continue to keep them informed as and when details are available,” the telco said in response to CNA's query.
Starhub said its engineers were working closely with NetLink Trust to resolve the issue.
