MCI response to PQ on Penalties for Internet Service Providers for Fault Repairs Taking Longer than 24 Hours

Parliament Sitting on 4 July 2022

58. Mr Raj Joshua Thomas: To ask the Minister for Communications and Information in view of how critical internet access is to work and life in Singapore, whether the Infocomm Media Development Authority will consider introducing penalties on service providers for internet fault repairs taking longer than 24 hours.

Answer:

1. MCI and IMDA recognise that Internet connectivity is essential to the public and businesses, and we take service disruptions seriously. Existing standards are already more stringent than suggested by the member. Service outages exceeding one hour with widespread service disruptions are investigated by IMDA. Penalties are meted out to service providers if they are found to be at fault, or had not restored the affected services expeditiously. In the past two years, IMDA has imposed financial penalties ranging from $30,000 to $400,000 for each episode of service disruption lasting over an hour.

2. Besides financial penalties, IMDA has put in place additional measures, such as requiring key telecom service providers to conduct regular audits to ensure network resilience, on par with international best practices. There are also measures to ensure prompt service restoration when disruptions occur.