Singtel's Data Protection Policy

 

Respecting your privacy and protecting your personal data

Where your personal data is covered by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), please refer instead to Singtel’s GDPR privacy policy.

Singtel collects information to understand your needs better. This helps us to improve our services and the way we communicate with you.

We know that privacy is important to you and we strive to be as open and transparent as possible in how we serve you.

We conduct our business in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and have implemented additional measures to protect your personal data.

Singtel’s Data Protection Policy aims to help you understand how we collect, use, share and protect your personal data.

 

Ways we collect your personal data

We may collect your personal data when you:

  • Subscribe to our services
  • Use our network, including through our mobile virtual network operators, and other Singtel products or services
  • Register for a specific product or service (e.g. registering your interest to purchase handsets)
  • Sign up for alerts or newsletters
  • Contact us with a question or request for assistance
  • Participate in a competition, lucky draw or survey
  • Visit our websites and applications (through the use of cookies / mobile advertising IDs and other technologies)
  • Visit our retail outlets, events and premises

 

The information we collect

The information we collect depends on the Singtel products and services you use and subscribe to. Here are key examples:

  • Your identity – This includes NRIC, FIN or passport number, address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, any form of biometric that you may have submitted, as well as service-related information such as bank and credit card details, device ID and IP address.
  • Your interaction with us – For example, a note or recording of a call you make to one of our contact centres, an email or letter you send to us or other records of any contact you have with us.
  • Your account information – For example, the subscription services you use or other details related to your account.
  • Information on your use of our services – For example, the phone numbers you call or send text messages to, the content of the SMSes you receive and vice versa, as well as the date, time and duration of your calls through our network and the approximate location of your mobile device.
  • Information on equipment and our network – For example, information on the performance of your device on our network.
  • Your preferences – This is based on what you share with us on how you would like to be contacted, and your preferred products, services and lifestyle activities for example.
  • Information from other organisations – These organisations include fraud-prevention agencies, business directories, credit reference agencies, our partners and other marketing service providers, or individuals we believe you have authorised to provide your personal details on your behalf.

    The collection of personal data is limited to that which is necessary for the identified purposes.

     

How we use your information

We may use your information for the following:

Provisioning & administration of services

  • Process your orders and activate or deactivate services
  • Enable us to process bills and payments
  • Respond to enquiries and requests from you or people you have authorised
  • Inform you about service upgrades and updates
  • Provide directory assistance
  • Facilitate interconnection and inter-operability with other telecommunications operators
  • Verification of identity
  • Store information for performing certain functions such as completing forms, facilitating website navigation, authentication, and enabling marketing and advertising technology

Market research, network & service enhancement

  • Conduct market research and customer satisfaction surveys to improve our customer service; develop new products, as well as personalise the services we offer you
  • Improve our network, for example by looking at usage and mobility patterns
  • *Perform market analysis
  • Improve your user experience based on your usage behaviour on our websites and applications

 (*Upon request from private and public organisations, we may provide information collected as described above for their planning purposes. The information included within any reports to these organisations is always aggregated and anonymised such that no particular individual is identifiable.)

Sharing of rewards and benefits

  • Offer rewards and promotions, and share promotional benefits and loyalty programs which you may qualify for
  • Provide updates, offers, invitations to events and deliver relevant advertising, including through voice, SMS and digital advertising with your prior consent or if otherwise permitted under local laws and regulations

Security and risk management

  • Inform you of service and security issues
  • Prevent and detect fraud or other crimes, which may include scanning content collected to identify and block malicious content (e.g. scam SMSes), and recover debts
  • Conduct internal audits and determine creditworthiness
  • Ensure the safety and security of our properties and systems
  • Conduct checks against money laundering, terrorism financing and related risks

Legal & regulatory requirements

  • Meet legal, regulatory and other requirements including providing assistance to law enforcement, judicial and other government agencies

We will not use your personal data for purposes other than what we have informed you, or which are permitted under local laws and regulations.

We will not offer, publish or share your personal data with third parties outside of the Singtel Group for commercial purposes, without seeking your explicit permission.

 

Sharing your information

We may share your information with:

  • Companies in the Singtel Group
  • Business partners and vendors we work with to deliver services you have subscribed to or to provide fraud or crime detection and prevention services to us
  • Industry regulators and other government organisations, as required by local laws and regulations
  • Financial institutions for purposes such as facilitating GIRO payments
  • Research institutions for market analysis purposes
  • Credit reference bureaus for the purpose of preparing credit reports or evaluation of creditworthiness
  • *Any other party that you have authorised us to disclose information to.

            *Effective from 25 February 2025

Your information is disclosed to the above only for relevant purposes (please refer to those mentioned in this Policy) or to protect the interests of our customers.

In some cases, we encrypt, anonymise and aggregate the information before sharing it. Anonymising means stripping the information of personally identifiable features. Aggregating means presenting the information in groups or segments e.g. age groups.

We will also ensure that overseas organisations we work with observe strict confidentiality and data protection obligations.

 

Protecting your information

We have implemented stringent measures to secure and protect your information. These include:

  • Safeguards to prevent security breaches in our network and database systems
  • Limits on access to information in our systems and the systems of our business partners and vendors
  • Strict verification processes to prevent unauthorised access to information

 

Retention of information

We will retain your information for only as long as there is a business or legal need.

 

Access and Correction

You may request access or make correction to your personal data held by us. Please refer to the "Access & Correction" section of the FAQ below for details on how you may request access or make corrections to your personal data.

 

Respecting your contact preferences

Singtel is committed to complying with the Do Not Call (DNC) provisions. We have always been mindful of engaging our customers in a more targeted and relevant way.

We may send marketing messages to your Singapore telephone number if:

  1. you have given us consent, OR
  2. you have not registered with the national DNC Registry, OR
  3. the sending of such messages is permissible under applicable laws and regulations.

Our marketing messages aim to update you about our exclusive offers, rewards programme and special deals from our preferred partners and advertisers.

If you wish to continue receiving such messages or to opt out, you can indicate your preference at any time via MyAccount. Your request will be processed within 21 days, except for marketing messages sent via bills, which will be processed in the next 2 billing cycles.

Please note that after opting out, you may still continue to receive non-marketing messages, such as product updates and service notices as permitted under applicable local laws and regulations. 

You are also able to withdraw your consent to our continued use and disclosure of your information. Please refer to the "Collection, Use & Disclosure" section of the FAQ below for details on how you may withdraw consent from us to collect, use and/or disclose your information. 

You may configure your browser setting to disable all cookies and mobile advertising IDs, including cookies and mobile advertising IDs associated with our services. However, it is important to remember that some of our services may not function properly if your cookies and/or mobile advertising IDs are disabled.

 

Questions?

Feel free to contact our Data Protection Officer at contactdpo@singtel.com.

You may also refer to our FAQ section for more details.

 

General Information

We may amend or modify this Policy from time to time, such as in response to changes to legislation. We remain committed to safeguarding your information and being open about our data protection practices.

This Policy is to be read together with our Terms and Conditions of Services - General and applies to all products and services provided by any Singtel Group Corporation under the Terms and Conditions of Services - General.

Capitalised terms in this Policy have the meanings given to them in the Terms and Conditions of Services - General unless otherwise defined. “We”, “our” and “us” refer to all Singtel Group Corporations.

Please note that different or separate data protection policies may apply to specific products and services provided by Singtel. Please refer to the terms of use for specific products and services for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions


General

  • 1.
    What is ‘personal data’?
    Personal data refers to data, whether true or not, about an individual who can be identified from that data; or from that data and other information to which the organisation has or is likely to have access. For more information, please visit Personal Data Protection Commission.
  • 2.
    Is there any type of data that is not covered under the PDPA?
    All non-personal data (such as statistics, numbers and other information that cannot be linked back to an individual) and business contacts are not covered under PDPA. For more information, please visit Personal Data Protection Commission.
  • 3.
    Are the rights of a child covered under the PDPA?
    For any child below 13 years of age, the rights to consent, access and correction can only be granted by their guardians.
  • 4.
    Who are Singtel’s preferred partners?
    They are companies which share a close business relationship with Singtel in areas such as co-branding, marketing collaborations and other strategic partnerships. These companies belong to a diverse range of industries, e.g. banking and entertainment. Our preferred partners include United Overseas Bank and Universal Studios Singapore.
  • 5.
    Who are Singtel’s third party merchants/advertisers?
    They are companies which engage Singtel and our communications channels to offer exclusive or other exciting deals and promotions to Singtel’s customers. These companies are from a diverse range of industries, including banking, retail and travel. Some examples of our third party merchants are Performance Motors, Dior and Orchard Central.

Collection, Use & Disclosure

Access & Correction

Do Not Call Registry

NRIC number

  • 1.
    Why do you collect my NRIC when I subscribe to a phone line?
    In order to provide certain telecommunication services, telecommunications service providers are required under the SBO or FBO licence to maintain records that include the NRIC numbers, Foreign Identification Numbers or passport numbers of their subscribers. Singtel is required to obtain the information contained in your NRIC to comply with the license conditions. For further details, you can refer to the PDPC website.
  • 2.
    Why are you insisting on verifying my NRIC even though there are new NRIC rules?
    The new NRIC guidelines allow organizations to verify an individual’s identity using the NRIC number. For account-specific requests, the IMDA has also set out guidelines in relation to telcos who need to verify the customer’s identity using the NRIC number. For further details, you can refer to guidelines for subscriber verification process in the IMDA website.
  • 3.
    Why must you verify my NRIC instead of any other particulars?
    The IMDA has also set out guidelines in relation to telcos who need to verify the customer’s identity using the NRIC number. Therefore, telcos will generally make use of a combination of NRIC and subscriber-unique information e.g. how did you pay your last bill, other active services subscribed. For further details, you can refer to guidelines for subscriber verification process in the IMDA website.