We refer to the letters by MyRepublic ("Fibre broadband service delay: MyRepublic replies"; last Thursday) and Mr Lim Han Wei ("Caught in fibre broadband service delay"; last Monday).
NetLink Trust had informed MyRepublic on Dec 28 last year that it was unable to proceed with the scheduled provisioning of fibre at Mr Lim's residence on Jan 5 this year, as an additional fibre resource had to be laid to his home, since there was no fibre termination point installed on his premises.
The installation was completed last Thursday.
Mr Lim mentioned that he was informed by a MyRepublic representative that the installation "could take several months" and "that this is a very common occurrence".
NetLink Trust is regulated by the Infocomm Development Authority and abides by its policies and regulations, which include the Quality of Service standards.
For example, for the period of July to December 2014, NetLink Trust completed more than 88 per cent of installation orders in the residential segment within three business days and more than 90 per cent within seven business days.
The regulatory requirements are 98 per cent completion within three business days and 100 per cent within seven days.
Hence, it is inaccurate for MyRepublic to state that it is "very common" for residential fibre provision to take "several months".
Upon receipt of NetLink Trust's notification of a delay, MyRepublic has the option to either select a new appointment date or cancel the appointment on behalf of their customers within three business days without cancellation charges from NetLink Trust.
Should the delay exceed 14 calendar days, there would also be no charges incurred.
In this case with Mr Lim, no charges were imposed by NetLink Trust.
We assure home owners like Mr Lim that their fibre experience is of the utmost importance to us.
We have implemented several service improvement initiatives, such as the pre-wiring of commercial buildings with fibre and increasing fibre capacity across our network.
We are focused on working with all requesting licensees (including MyRepublic) to ensure that we jointly deliver smooth, efficient and satisfactory service to all end users so as to meet the expectations of all our customers and stakeholders.
Victor Chan
Director
Corporate Planning
NetLink Trust
