Cut cable disrupts broadband service in Marsiling area
About 2,000 users in the northern part of Singapore were affected by disruptions to their fibre broadband service on Monday evening.
Fibre network operator NetLink Trust confirmed the disruption happened at the Marsiling area at 4.20pm. It deployed a recovery team onsite to restore the service.
Internet service providers Singtel, StarHub and M1 confirmed on Facebook some of their users in the Marsiling and Woodlands area were affected by the outage. They also updated their customers on the progress of the restoration.
Singtel added on Facebook that it would follow up with 800 affected customers to waive their local mobile data charges until the time services were restored.
A NetLink Trust spokesman said the disruption was resolved at about 12.30am yesterday and the cause of the disruption was due to a fibre cable cut by a third-party contractor.
According to the NetLink website, such cuts have happened when third-party contractors work on development projects such as the construction of new MRT lines.
The New Paper reported in March that there were 26 cable cut incidences since February 2016.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority said most incidences were a result of contractors not following procedures and failing to exercise due diligence. It said telecom companies and contractors involved in excavation, piling or drilling will be held to a higher standard with newly clarified rules from June 1.
Those found guilty of damaging telecom cables while carrying out earthworks can be fined up to $1 million and jailed for up to five years.
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