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In an\u00a0apology<\/span>, Singtel CEO Ng Tian Chong said on Mar 19 that the disruptions were caused by a “mechanical fault” and “should not have happened”.<\/p>\n On Mar 16, around 15 per cent of Singtel users started experiencing mobile connectivity issues from about 10.30am.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though 4G services were restored by around 1.30pm and 5G services were progressively from 2.45pm, full 5G services were not restored until around 8pm that day.<\/p>\n Ms Teo said that preliminary reports showed the Mar 16 incident affected more than 600,000 Singtel mobile customers and lasted for about nine hours.<\/p>\n In a separate incident a day later, around 2,000 customers faced mobile connectivity issues due to “a software bug from an earlier pre-planned IT system upgrade”.<\/p>\n The issue was resolved around 4pm that day.<\/p>\n Following the outages, Singtel carried out some network reconfigurations on Mar 18 to “further stabilise and optimise performance”, during which there was a brief spike in network traffic at around 5.30pm.<\/p>\n The issue was resolved within about an hour, Mr Ng said, adding that the events were unrelated.<\/p>\n Asked if IMDA will consider mandating telcos to provide real time live information whenever outages occur, Ms Teo said that service providers “can certainly improve” the timeliness of their updates to their subscribers and to members of the public.<\/p>\n She added that authorities will also look at how well operators have done in terms of communicating with their subscribers and members of public when assessing their responses to incidents.<\/p>\n Singtel announced on Mar 31 that all mobile customers will receive “goodwill” rebates following the disruptions.<\/p>\n The rebates will be reflected on customers’ bills within the next one to two billing cycles, with no action required, the telco said in messages to customers.<\/p>\n Singtel did not specify the amounts involved, but CNA is aware of customers being notified of rebates of S$5 (US$3.90) and S$10.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSINGTEL’S REBATES OUT OF OWN VOLITION<\/h2>\n