IT glitch pushes Singapore Grab fares past $1,000
The Grab app showed fares in the hundreds or thousands of dollars briefly in the early afternoon in the city-state, with users in neighbouring Malaysia reporting similar increases.
A Grab spokesperson attributed the elevated rates to a temporary display glitch. Fares went back to normal as of about 12.20pm Singapore time.
Grab, in which US-based Uber is a shareholder, is the leading ride provider in its home market and countries including Thailand and Malaysia. Uber left the region in 2018 in exchange for a stake in Grab, which is now locked in fierce competition against GoTo Group of Indonesia and other smaller rivals.
'We encountered a temporary system issue that led to abnormally high prices being wrongly displayed in our app,' Grab said in a statement.
'The issue has been resolved, and the app is now functioning as usual. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bangkok Post
12 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
IT glitch pushes Singapore Grab fares past $1,000
Singapore ride-hailing users got a rude shock on Wednesday after prices on the Grab app jumped about a hundred times from the usual rates, with short trips within the city costing $1,000 or more. The Grab app showed fares in the hundreds or thousands of dollars briefly in the early afternoon in the city-state, with users in neighbouring Malaysia reporting similar increases. A Grab spokesperson attributed the elevated rates to a temporary display glitch. Fares went back to normal as of about 12.20pm Singapore time. Grab, in which US-based Uber is a shareholder, is the leading ride provider in its home market and countries including Thailand and Malaysia. Uber left the region in 2018 in exchange for a stake in Grab, which is now locked in fierce competition against GoTo Group of Indonesia and other smaller rivals. 'We encountered a temporary system issue that led to abnormally high prices being wrongly displayed in our app,' Grab said in a statement. 'The issue has been resolved, and the app is now functioning as usual. We deeply regret the inconvenience caused.'
Bangkok Post
12 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
India seeks ban on online betting apps to curb addiction, frauds
NEW DELHI — India has moved a legislation to ban online money gaming due to rising instances of addiction, money laundering and financial frauds through these applications. A bill tabled in the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday seeks to prohibit promotion and operation of gaming apps that require users to pay money for the chance to win cash. The move threatens India's US$3.8 billion gaming industry that has drawn global investors and fostered homegrown fantasy sports betting apps such as Dream11, Games24X7 and Mobile Premier League. Shares of Nazara Technologies Ltd, which owns a stake in online poker platform PokerBaazi, fell as much as 7% in Mumbai, the most in seven months. Casino operator Delta Corp Ltd pared losses after a decline of nearly 7%. Dream11 and Mobile Premier League declined a request to comment by Bloomberg News. The bill, which also recommends a regulator for e-sports, educational platforms and social games, needs to be further cleared by the upper house of the parliament and signed by the President of India to become law. Indian lawmakers feel an outright ban on online money gaming would be more effective than regulation, considering the financial ruin caused to many households through 'manipulative design features and addictive algorithms.' Also, many platforms were found to have links to 'financial fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and terror funding.' With many of the operators based offshore, it becomes difficult to enforce state rules and taxes, the lawmakers said. The proposed ban comes on top of India's move to impose a 28% goods and services tax on online gaming and casinos in 2023.
Bangkok Post
15 hours ago
- Bangkok Post
Thai data centre capacity may triple on surging demand for AI
Thailand's data centre capacity is expected to triple in the next three years as investments of about US$6.5 billion pour into the sector to meet surging demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). The nation's capacity is expected to rise to about 1 gigawatts in 2027 from 350 megawatts in 2024, said Supparat Singhara Na Ayutthaya, vice chairman of the Thai Data Centre Association. A data centre requires an investment of about $10 million for each megawatt, he said. 'Thailand has drawn tremendous interest for new data centre investments with its steady power generation and water supply,' Mr Supparat said in an interview this week. Alphabet Inc's Google, Inc, Microsoft Corp and Nvidia Corp are among global tech giants spending billions of dollars on AI infrastructure in Thailand and across Southeast Asia. 'There will be many more global technology companies further diversifying their data centre facilities to Thailand,' Mr Supparat said. The expansion of Thailand's data centre sector comes as the nation, a longtime manufacturing powerhouse for automobiles and electronics, accelerates efforts to boost its high-tech industries. The government wants Thailand to catch up to countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, regional leaders in data centre and cloud computing services. In the first half of the year, Thailand's Board of Investments (BOI) approved investment applications worth 322 billion baht ($9.9 billion) for 36 tech projects, most of which were data centres, according to its website. The data centre association is awaiting clarity about the US plan to restrict shipments of AI chips and what effect that could have on the nation's data centres, Mr Supparat said.
