Network company (NetCo) OpenNet has appealed against the new quality of service (Qos) standards over its performance imposed by regulator Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), claiming the minimum timeframe set is hard to meet and rewrites its original contract.
OpenNet is the consortium appointed as the NetCo responsible for building the fiber infrastructure of the country’s next-generation nationwide broadband network (NBN), but has run into public criticism over delays in activating connections for residential areas and businesses.
Must fulfill 98 percent of residential orders within 3 days
The regulator’s latest move to improve the rollout of the network which it revealed on Thursday, requires OpenNet to fulfil 98 percent of residential orders within three working days, and to fulfill all orders within seven days. For non-residential buildings, OpenNet is required to complete 80 percent of orders within four weeks, and fulfill all orders within eight weeks.
IDA can impose a fine of S$10,000 (US$8,022) per breach each month, with additional penalties for serious breaches, or continuing or repeated breaches.
OpenNet said that the latest regulatory move “rewrites the original NetCo contract”, and to preserve the sanctity of contracts, changes to the NetCo contract should be done through contract variations mutually agreed to through negotiations.
The NetCo added that the QoS will require it to provide an amount of capacity that cannot be predetermined.
“This leaves OpenNet to either default on the QoS or to hold on standby a very large workforce which will in most times not be used. For OpenNet, neither defaulting nor holding a large amount of commercially unsustainable spare capacity is a viable option,” the NetCo said in its statement.
Last month, OpenNet had submitted a request to IDA to reconsider certain parts of its directives in the revised contract finalized earlier in July.
An OpenNet spokesperson had told ZDNet Asia: “We are supportive of IDA’s directives. To implement the directives will require extensive changes to existing IT systems, we will require more time, beyond the period that IDA has imposed, to implement the IT changes safely. We are currently in consultation with IDA to implement the IT changes within a timeframe acceptable to both parties.“
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