SINGAPORE: The hours-long Singtel landline outage last month was caused by a “technical issue” of a network component,  , Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Digital Development and Information , Janil Puthucheary said on Monday ( Nov 11 ), citing preliminary findings.
Additionally, a storage program failed to start as planned.
Speaking in parliament, Dr Janil said preliminary findings suggest that the complex issue affected the proper , functioning of a community part in one of the two systems supporting Singtel’s fixed-line voice services.
The two systems, located in separate phone exchanges, are designed to quickly take over the entire weight of the other when a program malfunctions, he said.
” But, in this instance, the backup did not happen effortlessly, which caused the continuous support disruption”, he explained.
The Singtel telephone interruption on Oct 8 disrupted calling to emergency service, care organizations, as well as customer service ranges for some federal agencies, banks and businesses.
Members of Parliament had raised a number of questions regarding the situation, including what might have caused the disturbance, how it might have been avoided in the future, and whether Singtel may face legal action.
The Infocomm Media Development Authority ( IMDA ) is conducting its investigations, adding that there is no conclusive evidence linking the incident to a sabotage or cyberattack.
” Our nation’s connectivity needs and demands are supported by Singapore’s communications system, which is a crucial system.” IMDA holds important service companies, like Singtel, to great service requirements and requires them to perform regular audits on their system and infrastructure”, he said.
” This includes ensuring the security of network architecture, reliability methods, and business continuity plans. Additionally, service companies must make sure their sites are adaptable to disruptions. If any errors are discovered under the Telecommunications Act, IMDA will not be reluctant to take severe behavior, including imposing financial penalties.