CTM fined MOP104,000 for April’s cyber blackout

CTM has been fined MOP104,000 for the partial Internet blackout that occurred in April, announced by Lau Vai Meng, director of the Macao Post and the Telecommunications Bureau, yesterday.

Lau said that the punishment is in accordance with the city’s policies on internet licensing, further noting that the maximum financial punishment is MOP500,000.

The director informed that in this instance the bureau deemed that CTM did not conduct operations according to the city’s legal instruction.

Lau also said that CTM has already offered a total of two million patacas to its customers in compensation.

“If I am not remembering it wrong, there are two things [CTM was punished for]. One is that CTM did not follow our instructions, and another is the [blackout’s] affecting range and affecting time. That’s how we did the math to come up with that fine,” explained Lau. She expressed the hope that similar incidents will not happen again.

In April, a blackout spread from CTM’s installations. According to the company, the software problem involved two major internet access servers.

The blackout affected access to Internet for the devices of more than 30,000 customers. The company’s CEO, Vandy Poon, declared at the time that CTM would assume “full responsibility” for the incident.

In addition, when informed about the recent cyber-attack which occurred in other regions and countries, Lau said that the bureau has not received related reports from any local telecommunication operators.