Asia Piling named for hitting fibre-optic cables that led to 20-hour broadband disruption

SINGAPORE – Asia Piling, a company involved in many public and commercial projects here, is the sub-contractor that hit critical underground fibre-optic cables, causing a 20-hour broadband outage to more than 5,000 households on April 18.

In naming the sub-contractor, the Land Transport Authority also told The Straits Times that the main contractor is Hwa Seng – Chye Joo – Ho Lee Joint Venture.

The companies were building a section of the North-South Corridor, a 21.5km expressway that is largely underground to connect towns in the northern part of Singapore to the city centre.

Asia Piling was conducting contiguous bored piling work, which involves drilling large vertical holes into the ground and filling them with concrete to form a protective wall for excavation, when it hit the underground cables.

More than 5,000 households in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sengkang and Punggol could not use their fixed fibre broadband for 20 hours as a result.

Asia Piling is a familiar name in the construction industry. It was involved in building the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant in 2021, a Housing Board project in Sembawang Avenue in 2021, and the Mandai Park development in 2021. It also took part in the Jurong Regional Line project, carrying out works for Gek Poh and Tawas MRT stations in 2021.

In 2021, the company was fined $6,500 for hosting a Chinese New Year gathering that breached safe distancing rules during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, no more than eight people could be at a gathering, but the dinner held at a seafood restaurant involved 65 people across nine tables.

In 2018, Hwa Seng – Chye Joo – Ho Lee were awarded a $242.9 million contract to build a 0.7km section of the North South Corridor tunnel between Pemimpin Place and Sin Ming Avenue. The joint venture was set up in January 2019.

Investigations into the incident are ongoing, but experts are calling for wider use of detection technologies, more up-to-date underground maps and tougher penalties for lapses as underground telecommunications cables are critical infrastructure underpinning Singapore’s digital economy.

Customers of all major internet service providers in Singapore – Singtel, StarHub, M1, Simba, ViewQwest and MyRepublic – were affected by the cable damage.

The cable cut also affected the broadcasting of bus-arrival information.

Experts said such incidents can stem from poor cable detection, human error or inadequate supervision during construction works.

Regulations introduced by the Infocomm Media Development Authority in 2019 already mandate a nine-step process for works near telecoms infrastructure.

“But this incident suggests the issue may be less about whether rules exist, and more about compliance, verification and enforcement at the worksite,” said Associate Professor Hyeokkoo Eric Kwon from the Division of Information Technology and Operations Management at Nanyang Business School.

As part of the nine-step process, earthworks contractors have to obtain the most updated service layout plan for an approximate location of telecoms cables.

The contractors have to engage a licensed telecoms cable detection worker to prepare a report and mark out the locations and routes of all the telecoms cables in the area where construction is to be carried out. The licensed worker will also need to determine the number and placement of trial holes to physically verify the exact location, depth and condition of telecom cables.

The contractor must submit a notice to the telcos before construction begins, followed by a joint site meeting with the licensed telecoms cable detection worker and telcos. After that, the contractor must obtain conditional approval for the digging of the trial holes before any earthworks.

The contractor must not use mechanical equipment like excavators or any other manual equipment that has sharp, pointed edges when digging trial holes. The trial holes must also be jointly inspected by the contractor, the licensed telecoms cable detection worker, the telcos involved and the party supervising the contractor.

There is a final approval that must be submitted before work can begin.

A longstanding issue involves outdated service layout plans, which contain the approximate location of the telecoms cables.

Mr Chia Wai Kong, principal consultant at technology training company Dream Catcher Technologies, said that unlike electric cables, communications fibres do not emit electric or magnetic fields, making detection underground more difficult.

Mr Koh Chee Koon, telecoms solutions architect at the Institute of Singapore Project Management, said trial holes are not foolproof as cables may be located deeper than the depth of the holes, laid at an angle, or fall outside the area exposed.

One measure is to install a protective warning tape 30cm on top of and parallel to the cable, said Mr Koh. This can help serve as a visual alert that a cable is nearby.

Contractors could be made to upload easily traceable digital evidence every step of the way – cable detection results, trial holes, site markings and supervisor sign-offs, said Prof Kwon.

“If this evidence is timestamped and Global Positioning System-tagged, it becomes much harder to skip procedures,” he said, adding that tougher penalties could be imposed on those who flout the rules.

Penalties could include mandatory retraining, heavier fines, suspension from high-risk works or even debarment for serious or serial offenders.

In a 2022 parliamentary reply, Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said that an average of 570 end users were affected by each of at least 31 cable-cut incidents between 2019 and 2022.

In 2019, sub-contractor 2K International started work on a PUB project that involved deep excavation without submitting the needed paperwork or checking for the cables, which it damaged. The service disruption lasted about 19 hours and affected more than 5,500 users in Punggol, Sengkang and Jalan Kayu. The company was fined $314,000, while the main contractor was fined $130,000.

In 2018, Eng Lam Contractors started improvement works in Sungei Tampines without complying with requirements or checking the location of the cables, which it damaged. Services were disrupted for more than 19 hours and affected 23,419 users. The company was fined $350,000 in 2023.