Damaged OpenNet cables fixed but some users still have issues

Singapore

SOME customers are still facing issues with their fibre broadband connections, though all of OpenNet's damaged fibre cables have been restored.

Service disruptions began last Wednesday when a fire broke out in SingTel's Bukit Panjang exchange, damaging 81 of OpenNet's fibre cables. This, in turn, affected some 23,000 fibre strands and disrupted service for about 48,000 fibre connections.

Yesterday, OpenNet - the builder of Singapore's ultra-fast national fibre broadband network - said that restoration work on the affected fibre connections has been completed, and all connectivity issues that were previously flagged have been resolved.

However, even though the physical cables have been pieced back together, complete connectivity and broadband service have not yet been fully restored for some customers - although the reasons for this are still unclear.

In a statement yesterday, M1 said that "a small number" of its fibre broadband customers "are still facing issues".

"We are making house calls to all these customers and working with OpenNet to help restore their connections," an M1 spokesman said.

StarHub, meanwhile, said that its fibre broadband service to all customers in Bukit Panjang, Choa Chu Kang, and Woodlands "now appears to be fully restored".

Compensation details for affected customers would be provided soon, it added.

Like M1, StarHub will also be contacting customers affected by the outage over the next few days, to ensure that all services are indeed in order.

While all of OpenNet's damaged cables were repaired and their affected fibre strands re-routed by last Friday, the restoration work for a portion of affected fibre connections took longer than expected.

OpenNet said this was due to "unforeseen complications", and emphasised that "at no time were the services of one requesting licensee prioritised over another".

The intensive restoration process involves the splicing of each affected strand of damaged fibre, and the re-routing of each connection individually.

If any new issues arise, they will be dealt with "on an urgent case-to-case basis".

OpenNet also said that it will work together with the rest of the industry to analyse lessons learnt from the incident, so as to improve processes in the future.