SingTel fined a total of $380,000 for tv, fixed line disruptions

SingTel has been fined a total of $380,000 by two government agencies over disruptions in the telco’s fixed line and cable TV services last year.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) slapped a $300,000 fine for SingTel’s failure to provide resilient mio Voice fixed line telephone services. Disruptions to the service occurred on three occasions last year – on 28 and 29 October and 4 November.

More than 500 users staying in Tampines, Changi, Pasir Ris, Bukit Panjang, Bukit Timah and Woodlands were affected.

Meanwhile, the Media Development Authority (MDA) imposed a $80,000 fine on the local telco giant after more than 850 Mio TV customers were affected by disruptions to the cable service on the same dates last year.

In a statement on Friday, IDA said the fixed line disruptions were caused by a hardware capacity limitation of the Optical Line Terminals (“OLT”) at the Tampines Exchange and Bukit Panjang Exchange. SingTel has since upgraded the hardware capacity of all its OLT equipment.

Even though the disruptions were a result of a hardware limitation in SingTel’s equipment, IDA was “not satisfied” that SingTel failed to take adequate steps to ensure sufficient hardware capacity was provided.

In a separate statement, MDA said that they found SingNet did not comply with license conditions on Quality of Service (QOS), which requires pay-TV services to be provided at reasonable quality that meets public expectations and is satisfactory to the MDA.

However, MDA noted that since the disruptions last year, SingNet has stepped up in its commitment to implement measures to upgrade its infrastructure to prevent a recurrence.

MDA’s investigation into a separate Mio TV service disruption which occurred on 13 May this year is still ongoing.