Singapore’s Starhub and OpenNet may fight it out in a court over claims that the latter had damaged Starhub’s cables while laying the fiber-optic infrastructure for Singapore’s NG-NBN.
The issue came to light after Starhub’s customers in various parts of the island complained of poor TV signals after OpenNet’s installation works in their estates.
A report in Todaysaid Starhub had sent repeated letters to OpenNet over several months, but had yet to receive a response.
Starhub’s head of corporate communications said the company was reviewing its legal options after having raised the issue with OpenNet on several occasions.
An OpenNet spokesperson told Today that it would meet with Starhub within the week to resolve the issues. OpenNet said in a statement to the Straits Times that cases of cable damage caused by its contractors were few, adding the company 'always rectified the damage to homeowners' satisfaction'.
The OpenNet consortium, which was offered a $750 million grant to lay the NG-NBN’s fiber infrastructure, is backed by SingTel, Singapore Power, Singapore Press Holdings and Canadian-based Axia Netmedia.
Singapore’s NG-NBN is scheduled to be rolled out to 95% of businesses and residences by next June.
Updated 2 April 2011: OpenNet's response