IMDA fines NetLink Trust US$500k for not meeting service standards

• NLT had not met the residential and non-residential quality of service standards
• IMDA took into consideration NLT’s previous QoS failures

 

SINGAPORE'S Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has imposed a financial penalty of US$500,000 (RM2.1 million) on NetLink Trust (NLT) for not meeting the residential and non-residential Quality of Service (QoS) standards for service activation.

Residential QoS standards
During the assessment period between January 2015 to June 2016, NLT fulfilled 87.15% to 93.19% of residential service orders within three business days or by the Request for Activation (RFA) Date in each month.

The RFA date refers to the date requested by Requesting Licensees beyond the service provisioning timeframes stated in the QoS framework despite slots being available within the said period.

This, however, was still below the QoS standard of 98% (Chart 1) required by IMDA. NLT fulfilled 89.95% to 94.08% of residential service orders within seven business days, or an additional four business days from the RFA date, for which the standard is 100% (Chart 2).

Non-residential QoS standards
NLT had also not fully met IMDA’s non-residential QoS standards for the assessment period.

From January 2015 to December 2015, the company fulfilled 29.28% to 82.68% of non-residential service orders within four calendar weeks of the date of the service order, or by the RFA date.

 

NLT thus failed to meet the minimum monthly standard of 80% except for December 2015 where NLT performed above the standard (Chart 3).

NLT fulfilled 45.06% to 90.72% of these service orders within eight calendar weeks of the date of the service order, or within four calendar weeks of the RFA date, for which the service standard is 100% (Chart 4).

IMDA had thus imposed a financial penalty of US$300,000 (RM1.26 million) on NLT for not meeting the non-residential QoS standards.

Assessment of penalties
In determining the two financial penalties, IMDA took into consideration NLT’s previous QoS failures, and the operational improvements made by NLT to raise its performance across the board.

IMDA also noted that a number of delayed residential service orders were churn orders (orders where end-users have completed their 24-month contract and are seeking to switch broadband service providers) or second fibre orders (second fibre is used when end-users switch service providers, or when they have contracted fibre-based services from two or more broadband service providers).

These necessitated the use of a second optical fibre, or handing over of fibre between service providers.

IMDA expects NLT to ensure that there is sufficient spare fibre in residential buildings to cater to all residential orders, and continue to improve its processes and ensure it fully meets all QoS standards. IMDA will continue to monitor NLT’s performance closely.

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