Singtel landline outage affects emergency hotlines, SCDF and police provide SMS alternatives
Update:
At 8.25pm, Singtel posted an update that their fixed voice services had been fully restored.
Original article:
Singtel experienced an outage affecting its fixed-line services on Oct 8, impacting phone calls and critical emergency hotlines.
Singtel posted a statement on Facebook at 3.39pm saying that it was aware that some of its customers, including public service hotlines, were experiencing intermittent fixed voice service issues.
It assured its customers that its mobile services were unaffected and that engineers were working urgently to resolve the matter.
Public hotlines for vital services like the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the police were also disrupted, hindering calls to emergency numbers 995 and 999.
Both SCDF and police responded swiftly, urging the public experiencing difficulties reaching emergency hotlines to utilise alternative SMS options: 70995 for SCDF and 70999 for SPF.
"The safety and well-being of the public is our top priority," they said in a joint statement on their Facebook pages. "We are working closely with our service provider to resolve this matter as quickly as possible."
Banks, including DBS Bank and POSB, appeared to have been affected by the outage as well.
Both banks stated on their apps that Singtel is still working to resolve the issue that is impacting their customer care hotlines.
Customers were advised to use the DBS digibot, visit a DBS or POSB branch until 6pm or use the Video Teller Machine (VTM) until 8pm.
UOB and Standard Chartered also informed customers of a similar "telco service disruption" on their apps.
KK Women's and Children's Hospital also experienced disruptions due to the Singtel outage.
In a Facebook post, the hospital announced that all phone lines were down and advised patients seeking appointments to contact them via email at centralappt@kkh.com.sg.
By 5:07 PM, Singtel announced that their engineers had isolated the problem and were deploying solutions to restore services progressively. They apologised for the inconvenience caused and thanked the public for their patience.
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