Singapore (VNA) – Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has launched an investigation into mobile network disruptions affecting Singtel, the island nation’s largest telecom operator, between March 16 and 18.
The regulator said on March 19 that it takes the incidents seriously and will take firm action if any lapses are identified.
Over three consecutive days, Singtel customers experienced difficulties connecting to the network. An eight-hour outage on March 16 left users with “zero bars” of signal and disrupted essential services, including payments, ride-hailing, and food delivery.
Unstable connectivity persisted into the following day, though in a smaller area, bringing the total disruption to more than 30 hours. Singtel said the two incidents were unrelated and not caused by a cyberattack.
On the evening of March 18, reports on the Downdetector platform surged again to thousands, with users reporting signal loss and intermittent connections. However, Singtel described the issue as a “temporary overload” rather than a network outage.
IMDA said the problems have since been resolved, but the exact cause and the number of affected users remain unclear.
This is not the first such incident involving Singtel. In last November, its mobile network was disrupted for more than six hours. Earlier, in October 2024, a fixed-line outage affected emergency hotlines for the Civil Defence Force and police, as well as services at hospitals and banks, impacting around 500,000 users and resulting in a fine of 1 million SGD (780,000 USD)./.
