Most Microsoft services in Singapore restored after outage that lasted more than 24 hours

[SINGAPORE] Most e-mail services in Singapore were restored on Saturday (Nov 14), a day after a Microsoft outage that affected hundreds of thousands of users globally.

Various statutory boards and government agencies including the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Singapore Land Authority, Singhealth and the Singapore Police Force noted in separate Facebook posts late on Friday and on the morning of Saturday, that their e-mail services are up and running.

Banks such as DBS, UOB and Maybank have also updated on their respective Facebook pages that their e-mail services have been restored.

Reports of issues with Microsoft Outlook peaked at 1,135 at about 9.30 am in Singapore on Friday, gradually falling to 347 at about 8.45 pm on the same day.

In a media reply on Friday, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) confirmed that some government systems were hit by the disruption, adding that it was working with Microsoft to restore the affected services.

The private and education sectors were also affected by the outage, with banks here reporting e-mail disruptions, though core banking operations were unaffected.

THE BUSINESS TIMES INSIGHTS

Powering Asean's Future 2026

Find out how enterprises are navigating power constraints and sustainability targets

ACCESS THE INSIGHTS

The e-mail services for Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) were also affected by the disruption.

The outage, reports of which started climbing around 5.25 pm GMT on Thursday (1.25 am on Friday, Singapore time) according to Ookla, is one of the longest in Microsoft’s history and the second disruption to its services in 2026, Reuters reported.

Microsoft said the outage specifically hit features tied to Exchange Online – its cloud-based e-mail and scheduling hub – leaving unconnected applications operational.

SEE ALSO

Microsoft outage sends traders back to phones and fax

Some Singapore government systems affected by Microsoft outage; no impact on Singpass: GovTech

Reuters reported that Downdetector logged more than 7.4 million reports worldwide, peaking at nearly 20,000 a minute, more than 1,500 times normal levels.

Microsoft said in an update posted on X at 12.40 am on Saturday that it saw “broad recovery and stability” across its services.

It clarified that the issue was not related to cyber or artificial intelligence agents.

“The incident was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change,” the post added.

Microsoft also said that it will provide a full post-incident report once its review is complete.

The Straits Times has contacted GovTech for more information. THE STRAITS TIMES