Singtel says ‘momentary connectivity issues’ resolved after users face issues for third day in a row
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At 6.12pm, there were over 500 reports of Singtel-related problems on Downdetector.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
SINGAPORE – Singtel users faced “some momentary connectivity issues” on the evening of March 18, which the telco said has been resolved.
The number of reports related to the telco on Downdetector – a site that tracks service outages by collating status reports from a number of sources – spiked to over 500 as at 6.12pm, compared with 35 reports at 5.25pm.
On Downdetector, 48 per cent of reports were related to mobile internet problems, as at 6.52pm, with another 24 per cent and 22 per cent reporting issues with the telco’s mobile signal and broadband internet respectively.
Some of the telco’s subscribers have taken to Singtel’s Facebook page to complain about losing their 4G and 5G connections, as well as issues making payments and using ride-hailing apps.
Civil servant Gail Tham, 40, was among mobile users who had no signal for a third day in a row.
She said she had no mobile connection for more than 30 hours on March 16 and 17. On March 18, she again noticed there was no signal on her phone at around noon and continued to have intermittent connectivity all the way until around 5pm.
“I can’t afford to lose connection tomorrow anymore, as I have an event,” said Mrs Tham.
In a media reply, the telco said there was no network outage.
A Singtel spokesperson added: “We noticed some momentary congestion and the matter has been resolved. We thank our customers for their understanding.”
In a Facebook post at 7.26pm, the telco attributed the disruption to “momentary connectivity issues” and asked consumers to call 1688 if they were still facing problems with their connections.
This comes after two disruptions on March 16 and March 17, which affected thousands of Singtel users.
The telco posted on Facebook about the disruption on March 17 at 11.30am that day, and said in an update later at 5.08pm that mobile connectivity had been restored for affected customers.
Singtel said the March 17 disruption was unrelated to another one the day before, when thousands of its users faced a mobile outage that lasted more than eight hours. The March 16 incident disrupted essential services here, including payments, ride hailing and food delivery.
Sector regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority said it is in contact with Singtel on further service issues reported by some mobile users in the evening of March 18.
“We will investigate today’s incident together with those that occurred earlier this week,” it said.
It added that it has started investigations, and will take firm action against the telco should any lapses be identified.
IMDA had previously said that preliminary investigations for both the March 16 and March 17 incidents “do not suggest any evidence that the incidents are cyber related”.
The number of people affected by the March 16 and March 17 disruptions was not disclosed by Singtel. The telco commands half of the local market, with its 4.5 million subscribers.
