Regulator IDA Singapore has fined M1 a record S$1.5 million ($1.2 million) over a nearly three-day network outage in January.
IDA imposed the fine for contravention of the Code of Practice for telecommunication Service Resiliency.
The regulator said M1 had failed to ensure good electrical installation practices when carrying out power termination during upgrading works, leading to the electrical failure which triggered fire suppression systems, causing the outage.
The outage commenced on January 15, affecting some 250,000 M1 users. The operator’s 3G network was disrupted for around 63 hours, while 2G services were disrupted for over 71 hours.
In determining the size of the fine, M1 said it had taken into account the extent of the disruption, the serious impact it had on consumers and businesses, and the time taken to restore services.
It also considered mitigating factors including the fact that M1's end users in the south-western and north-western parts of Singapore were able to switch to 2G and 3G respectively to regain connectivity, and M1’s commitments to invest in network upgrades to improve resiliency.
TodayOnlinenotes that the fine is more than three times the size of the second largest penalty imposed under the Code - an S$400,000 fine handed out to SingTel last year for an outage in 2011.