THE Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has come down hard on a contractor whose workers accidentally cut off phone, Internet and cellular access to thousands of users in Bedok last year.

Ah Boon Civil Engineering & Building Contractor was fined $500,000 last month by the Subordinate Court for its error that left more than 3,000 residents and 70 companies on the blink.

Last January, while putting in shoring works to prevent the trenches they were digging from collapsing, Ah Boon's workers damaged Singapore Telecommunication's (SingTel) fixed lines, fibre-optic Internet cables and mobile phone base stations. The damage cost SingTel $235,000 and took more than a day to fix, during which it received more than 800 complaints from irate users.

Because of the 'serious and widespread disruption to business and personal communications' caused, the telecommunications sector regulator decided to take action against Ah Boon.

'Given the importance of the telecommunications network, due care must be taken by contractors doing work in the vicinity of telecommunication cables to prevent cable cuts to the telecommunications network...IDA takes a serious view of contraventions of the Telecommunications Act and will not hesitate to take strong enforcement action against offenders,' said an IDA spokesman.

A telecommunications company source, who declined to be named, said that construction-related telecommunications disruptions occur 'quite a few times every year, usually around roadworks and construction sites'.

Under the Telecommunications Act, contractors must notify telecommunications companies one week ahead of any earthworks and obtain plans for these cables, something the IDA said Ah Boon did not do. Contractors must also ensure their works do not damage any telecommunications infrastructure.

Ah Boon said in mitigation last month that the problem was a 'one-off careless incident', not because it was 'wilful, malicious or reckless'.

The 26-year-old firm, which had been hired by the Public Utilities Board to build an underground drain, said it had done the necessary checks to find out where SingTel and StarHub's cables lay. However, its workers forgot to double-check the location of the cables after their lunch break, and so damaged them when they resumed work.

Ah Boon general manager Ken Koh said the firm will not be appealing.

Please read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times

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