Singtel hit by fourth network disruption in under two weeks

Singapore's largest telecommunications provider, Singtel, experienced its fourth network disruption in less than two weeks on Monday, 23 March, with both broadband and mobile services affected across residential and corporate customers.

Outage-tracking platform Downdetector recorded a sharp spike in disruption reports linked to Singtel on Monday afternoon, peaking at over 8,000 reports at around 3pm before declining rapidly. By 3.45pm, cumulative reports stood at over 9,000, with half involving broadband internet connectivity, according to Downdetector, which collates data from multiple sources.

The spike pattern differed markedly from the more prolonged disruptions recorded the previous week, suggesting Monday's incident may have been more acute and short-lived, though its full scope remained under investigation at the time of publication.

In a subsequent statement, Singtel described Monday's incident as arising from international traffic optimisation rather than a network disruption, and said the matter had since been resolved.

In a Facebook post published at 4.08pm on Monday, Singtel acknowledged the situation. "We're aware that some customers are experiencing some connectivity issues. Our engineers are investigating and we'll provide updates shortly," the company said.

One customer commented on the post that the disruption was not limited to mobile data, stating that home and corporate broadband lines were also affected. Singtel's social media team replied to acknowledge the report and confirmed engineers were investigating.

The Monday outage follows three consecutive days of mobile service disruptions the previous week. The first and most severe of these occurred on 16 March, when approximately 15 per cent of customers began experiencing mobile connectivity issues from around 10.30am due to a mechanical fault at one of Singtel's network facilities.

According to a statement posted on Singtel's Facebook page on 20 March, 4G services for affected customers were restored by around 1.30pm, with 5G services progressively restored from about 2.45pm. Full 5G restoration was completed at around 8pm that day. Some customers required a device restart or additional support to reconnect.

Singtel Singapore Chief Executive Officer Ng Tian Chong issued a public apology on 19 March, attributing that initial incident to the mechanical fault and acknowledging the impact on customers.

A separate disruption on 17 March saw approximately 2,000 customers lose mobile connectivity due to what Singtel described as a software bug from an earlier pre-planned IT system upgrade. "This issue was not immediately apparent as it coincided with the earlier incident. Once identified, our teams took immediate action and connectivity was progressively restored, with full restoration completed by around 4pm on the same day," Ng said.

Following those incidents, Singtel undertook network reconfigurations to further stabilise and optimise performance. During that process, a brief spike in network traffic occurred at around 5.30pm on 18 March, which Singtel said was resolved within approximately one hour.

Ng stated that the three incidents were unrelated to one another. "We are committed to learning from these events and working with our vendors to further enhance our network resilience and improve recovery times," he said.

On 20 March, Singtel cautioned that some customers might continue to experience brief and intermittent inconveniences, particularly during peak hours over the following days, as network adjustments remained ongoing. Singtel also stated that Monday's 23 March incident was unrelated to those reconfigurations.

Customer anger and calls for compensation

Frustration among Singtel's customer base was visible on the company's Facebook page, where dozens of comments were posted within minutes of the outage being reported on Monday.

Several customers expressed alarm at the frequency of the failures. One commenter noted it was the fourth time within two weeks that the network had experienced issues, adding that the inconvenience had affected a large number of customers.

A GOMO subscriber — GOMO is a Singtel sub-brand — complained of being unable to make or receive calls, and said the situation mirrored the problems encountered during last week's outages.

Customers working remotely were among those most severely affected. One commenter described being unable to attend virtual meetings or conduct online work. Another said they had taken a taxi to a location with Wi-Fi access after losing connectivity while working on the road, describing the experience as anxiety-inducing.

Corporate connectivity was also disrupted. One commenter reported that their office was unable to work properly due to the failure of Singtel's network.

Multiple customers called explicitly for bill waivers or other financial compensation. "Apology is not enough, we have been paying monthly for the service," wrote one subscriber. Others demanded to know what adjustments would be made to their bills.

Several commenters signalled they were reconsidering their subscriptions. References to competitors including Simba and MyRepublic appeared in the thread, with one subscriber stating that four outages in a fortnight had made the decision to leave straightforward. Another, who said they had recently re-contracted with Singtel, described the repeated disruptions as deeply disappointing.

One subscriber questioned the value proposition offered by the provider, citing the cost of plans relative to the reliability of service. Another called for a boycott of the telco, drawing attention to executive remuneration.

At the time of publication, Singtel had not issued a public update specifically addressing the cause or resolution of the 23 March disruption. A statement was subsequently posted on Singtel's Facebook page at 5.23pm — approximately 53 minutes after this article was published — in which the company attributed the incident to an international traffic optimisation issue and said it had been resolved within 15 minutes. The company added that its local network remained stable and was operating as expected.

However, at least one customer disputed that characterisation. A commenter posting at around 7pm said she was still experiencing data connectivity problems at that time, questioning Singtel's use of past tense in describing the situation as resolved.

Singtel drew TOC's attention to its 20 March Facebook post in correspondence regarding this article. That post addressed the earlier series of disruptions between 16 and 18 March and was published prior to the 23 March incident.

---

Editor's note: This article has been updated on 24 March, following correspondence from Singtel. Singtel's characterisation of the 23 March incident as arising from international traffic optimisation has been incorporated into the report, along with details from Singtel's Facebook post of 20 March addressing the earlier series of disruptions between 16 and 18 March.

Regarding the original final paragraph, which stated that Singtel had not issued a public update on the cause or resolution of the 23 March disruption at the time of publication: TOC has reviewed this and confirms it was accurate. Singtel's first public statement specifically addressing the 23 March incident was posted on its Facebook page at 5.23pm, approximately 53 minutes after this article was published. The 20 March Facebook post which Singtel cited in correspondence with TOC addressed the 16 to 18 March disruptions and did not constitute an update on the 23 March incident. The original paragraph has been retained and a follow-up paragraph added to reflect Singtel's subsequent 5.23pm statement.