Fibre outage affects 2,000 internet connections in Bishan and Thomson

About 2,000 internet connections in the Bishan and Thomson areas were disrupted on September 15 after multiple fibre cables were damaged. NetLink Trust, the operator of Singapore's Nationwide Broadband Network infrastructure, stated that the damage was caused by a third party contractor performing road widening works. The company clarified that it had not engaged the contractor in question.

Recovery teams worked through the night to repair the cables, though NetLink Trust noted that water ingress and obstructions at the site complicated access to the underground cables. The company targeted a full restoration of services by Wednesday morning, September 16, while cautioning that the timeline could change based on the full extent of the damage.

Internet service providers Singtel, StarHub, and M1 all confirmed via social media that some of their subscribers were affected and that they were working with NetLink Trust to restore services. Singtel specifically noted that its mobile services remained operational. Data from Downdetector showed spikes in outage reports for all three providers during the afternoon of September 15, with Singtel and StarHub recording the highest volumes of reports.

This incident follows a similar outage in April when fibre damage affected 5,000 users across Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Sengkang, and Punggol. That previous incident also disrupted the Land Transport Authority's bus arrival system due to construction works for the North-South Corridor project.