RISK experts have called for a review of contingency plans among emergency hotline operators after an unprecedented hours-long Singtel outage cut off calls to the police, paramedics, fire department and other public lines on Oct 8.
Pointing to the diversity of communication options, sector regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) told The Straits Times (ST) that the voice, mobile, broadband, Wi-Fi and messaging services across different service providers here should be harnessed as part of contingency plans.
The disruption on Oct 8 lasted more than three hours before services progressively resumed in the evening.
The hotlines of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and police, as well as those of public hospitals, banks, Changi Airport and SimplyGo did not have a dial tone.
“It appears that emergency hotline operators did not have backup services ready for immediate switchover, given the hours-long disruption,” said Aaron Ang, chief information security officer at Singapore-based IT services company Wissen International.
“Even Singtel did not seem to have any contingency plans for its customers,” he added.
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Anthony Lim, director of the Centre for Strategic Cyberspace and International Studies, said that the outage was significant enough to warrant a serious review of contingency measures.
IMDA, which is investigating the incident, said on Oct 10 that it takes a serious view of the disruption to Singtel’s fixed voice line services and will not hesitate to take action under the Telecommunications Act.
It said it may impose financial penalties for breach of the Act. The maximum financial penalty is up to S$1 million or up to 10 per cent of the annual turnover of the licensee, whichever is higher.
“Telecommunication networks in Singapore are important digital infrastructure.
“The design of Singapore’s networks, as a whole, supports connectivity across various communication options, including voice, mobile, broadband, Wi-Fi and messaging across different service providers. This diversity is a key part of our infrastructure resilience,” said a spokeswoman.
She added: “IMDA will work closely with agencies and organisations who provide key services to enable them to tap the diverse network connectivity options.”
In reply to ST, Singtel Singapore chief executive Ng Tian Chong said the telco is exploring alternative communication channels with each service provider to ensure better resilience.
He did not answer queries about what caused the disruption, but said Singtel is implementing measures to prevent a recurrence.
Ng said: “This was an unfortunate incident, and I sincerely apologise to all who were affected by Tuesday’s (Oct 8) disruption.
“As soon as we were alerted to the matter, my teams worked expeditiously to isolate the issue and deploy recovery measures so that services, especially essential ones, could be restored as soon as possible.”
He added: “I want to reassure our customers that we take this matter very seriously and appreciate their patience and understanding as we put in place these actions.”
ST has also contacted the police and SCDF on the impact of the disruption and their contingency measures.
Among the affected operators, SingHealth pointed to Singtel’s Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a long-running network of cables that support call centres and businesses, as the cause of the outage.
Some experts pointed to call forwarding as a possible solution as it can automatically redirect incoming calls to an alternative line in the event the emergency lines cannot be reached because they are either engaged or broken.
Commonly used in call centres, call forwarding makes it simple for callers as they do not need to remember alternative numbers.
“With call forwarding, operators can continue to rely on long-running analogue networks such as ISDN, while keeping new technologies such as mobile or digital lines as a backup,” said Centre for Strategic Cyberspace and International Studies’ Lim.
During the disruption, the public was asked to send SMSes to different emergency numbers, or use apps and e-mail to contact the affected service providers. The police, for instance, alerted the public through social media to reach them via SMS instead on 70999.
“Most people are unlikely to have seen the alerts or recall those numbers on short notice,” said Chow Keng Fong, a business continuity adviser with experience working for banking and tech firms.
“The Singtel outage signalled a need for a review,” she added. “Using an app or remembering another number is not effective for most users.”
She also pointed to call forwarding technology, which can connect users to an alternative line or link them to voice instructions on alternative ways to reach the necessary service.
Cyber-security consultant Shane Chiang, 52, found out about the outage when his colleagues could not reach 999 to report a scam call from a fraudster impersonating the police.
The hotlines for 999 and the police’s anti-scam centre were all unreachable, said Chiang.
“All we heard was a dead tone,” he said. “No emergency line worked. We didn’t know what happened at the time.”
Chiang added: “It could have been really bad if it was an emergency like a house on fire.” THE STRAITS TIMES
