Singtel hit by second disruption a day after eight-hour outage

SINGAPORE – Some Singtel users could not connect to the telco’s mobile network on March 17, a day after they were hit by more than eight hours of outage.

In a March 17 Facebook post at 11.30am, Singtel acknowledged that a “small number” of customers were facing connectivity issues.

But the telco said the problems were unrelated to the outage on March 16 that affected thousands of users and disrupted essential services in Singapore, including payments, ride-hailing and food delivery.

At around 5pm, Singtel said on Facebook that mobile connectivity had been restored. “We apologise for the inconvenience caused. If you’re still experiencing issues, please contact us at 1688,” said the telco.

In a statement, sector regulator, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), said: “We are aware of another disruption to Singtel’s mobile network services which started in the morning of 17 March 2026.”

Noting Singtel’s update that the two events are unrelated, IMDA said: “Preliminary investigations for both incidents do not suggest any evidence that the incidents are cyber related.”

The regulator added: “We take a serious view of any service disruptions and will investigate both incidents. We will not hesitate to take strong regulatory action against Singtel should any lapses be identified.”

Customers had been advised to switch their devices to airplane mode and back, or restart their phones a few times to restore connectivity.

But many Singtel and GOMO users still could not restore their connection. They were also frustrated with the slow customer service response. GOMO is a Singtel no-frills sub-brand.

Homemaker Priscilla Wee, 56, said she had tried many times to turn her phone on and off. She even reloaded her GOMO e-SIM, but to no avail.

She was cut off from mobile connectivity on the morning of March 16, and lamented that she could have missed a call from her clinic about an important medical report.

Frustrated, she terminated her GOMO line on March 17 and opened a new account with StarHub. “The trust factor with Singtel is now gone,” she said.

Mrs Gail Tham, 40, could not get any Singtel signal from noon on March 16.

“I had zero bars on my phone,” said the civil servant, who had to ask a colleague to hail a ride for her on Grab.

She could not get any signal even after Singtel said mobile connections were restored on the evening of March 16. She rebooted her phone several times, but it did not help.

On March 17, she worked from home to remain connected to her home landline in anticipation of a call back from Singtel’s support staff.

She was promised a call back at 8am, but it did not come. After making about seven calls to the Singtel hotline, her connection was finally up at 5pm.

“I’m definitely going to switch my telco provider after this,” said Mrs Tham.

Cybersecurity experts said it is possible for the two outages to be unrelated because telco networks are made up of many different systems.

Mr Aaron Ang, chief technology officer of Singapore-based cybersecurity company Cyber Leaders Nexus, said engineers responding to a major outage often restart systems, reroute traffic or apply quick fixes.

The remedial works sometimes involve shifting loads to backup systems – similar to diverting traffic to smaller roads after a highway accident.

“Restoring one part of the system can put stress on other parts or expose hidden issues, leading to a second, separate outage,” said Mr Ang.

Mr Matthias Yeo, chief executive of Singapore-based cybersecurity research company CyberXCenter, said the telco should review its resiliency after having two back-to-back outages. Specifically, it should review recovery processes, failover mechanisms and system dependencies.