Yaacob 'dismayed' by M1 service disruption
[UPDATE on Monday, 5 February, 9:43pm: Added message from Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim]
Regarding the service disruption affecting M1 customers on Tuesday, the Minister of Communications and Information, Yaacob Ibrahim, said he was "dismayed" after he came to know of the incident.
"IDA [Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore] will be carrying out its investigation. I have asked them, as the regulator, to have M1 ensure that its network functions optimally," Yaacob said in a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon.
He posted this a day after M1 customers experienced difficulties using the network to send messages or make calls.
Yaacob also noted that another service disruption had occured on Wednesday affecting customers registered under SingTel's mobile network.
"While no network service is fool proof, telcos can improve in the way they update and assist their customers when disruptions occur. We should expect better service," he said.
On the same day as Yaacob's Facebook post, M1's chief executive director, Ms Karen Kooi, had reportedly sent apology text messages directly to customers regarding the incident.
This was in addition to M1's statement on Tuesday evening, saying that they "appreciate" the patience and understanding of their mobile customers who were affected by the service disruption that happened in the morning, and will be giving free services to them for one day.
They will be providing free local mobile calls, local SMS and MMS services this Sunday.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience caused to our customers. We take this incident very seriously, and in addition to our own investigation, we will be appointing an independent expert to conduct a network architecture and connectivity review,” said Kooi.
The disruption was caused by a "call processing software issue" that had prevented customers' mobile phones from being registered to the network.
M1 took about five hours to rectify the issue, which went on from 7am to 12:15pm.
The "increased complexity" of the telco's network had prevented M1 from rectifying the issue in a shorter period of time. According to M1, they have been upgrading the mobile network to incorporate new entities and more advanced softwares. And it was important to troubleshoot the numerous interlinked entities to ensure effective restoration of services.
M1 Singapore notified users of the service disruption on its Facebook page at around 8am, “Some of our customers may be experiencing difficulties sending text messages or making voice calls. We are currently rectifying the issue and apologise for the inconvenience.”
Some M1 users who commented on the post reported widespread affected areas including Choa Chu Kang, Toa Payoh, Serangoon, Kent Ridge, Jurong, Clementi and Dover, Pasir Ris and Changi.
Some users also said that they were not able to access internet services on their phones. Facebook user Daniel Lim said, “You know this is not even funny anymore. I’m tethering wifi from my friend’s Singtel phone.”
A spokesperson for the telco, however, reportedly said that mobile data services were not affected.
Others took to complaining about the telco’s service. Facebook user Chen Yuting commented on the post, “M1 [has] really got to buck up their network and services. It’s always having issue[s]. What is the point of paying so much yet the service always break down like the train?” Another Facebook user Jin Sheng Toh said, “Think its time to say goodbye to my 10+ Yrs of loyalty!!!!”
M1 users also suggested that the company should compensate the users for the inconvenience. Facebook user Rizza Tabelisma-Tiglao said, “You should compensate us subscribers for this inconvenience and make it up to us by NOT JUST free call for a certain period of time like what you all did before but at least [waive] off the full month subscription.”
Kim Peng Tan, a Facebook user, also suggested, “Instead of IDA fining M1. The penalty should benefit the impacted parties. Eg: 10% [discount] for each hour of disruption”
This is not the first time that the telco has faced service disruptions. In the most recent case, M1 mobile users found themselves cut off from the Internet for several hours in December last year. M1 was also previously fined S$1.5million by the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) in October 2013 for a service disruption that lasted more than 60 hours in January 2013.
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