SINGAPORE — M1 customers who were affected by a major internet outage earlier this week will receive a one-week rebate off their June bill, the telecommunications company said on Thursday (May 14).

M1 said that users who were affected by the disruption would be given a “one-click link” via SMS (short message service) and email to claim this rebate starting Thursday.

Earlier this week, some M1 users reported connectivity issues that were “triggered by a network-bolstering initiative to improve customer experience”, the telco noted.

The first incident on May 12 had affected a “specific group of customers” and was resolved overnight to avoid a “large-scale disruption in the peak hours”, M1 said.

A second unrelated incident happened on the morning of May 13 and was resolved by 2pm that day, it added.

“The disruptions were not caused by any dated equipment, shortage of capacity or cyber attack,” M1 said, adding that the company understands the importance of network resilience and reliability, especially as more people are working and studying from home during the circuit breaker to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Mr Manjot Singh Mann, M1's chief executive officer, said that the company is deeply sorry for the inconvenience the disruption has caused its users, and thanked them for their patience and understanding.

He added: “Our priority now is to ensure service reliability and we are taking extra measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. We are also cooperating fully with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) for further investigations.”

On Wednesday, IMDA said that it would not hesitate to take "strong enforcement action" if lapses were found. 

“IMDA takes a serious view of any service disruption to public telecommunications, especially during the circuit breaker period, where many are working and studying from home,” the government agency said.