Australian minister calls Optus failures unacceptable as Singtel urges patience with CEO

SYDNEY: Optus’s chief executive Stephen Rue will need more time to repair the troubled Australian telecom carrier, Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said on 30 September 2025. Yuen travelled to Sydney from Singapore to meet Australian authorities after consecutive outages disrupted emergency call services, triggering widespread criticism. He said Rue had been appointed 11 months earlier to address long-standing issues at Optus and was still in the early stages of implementing change.

Back-to-back outages raise alarm

The latest disruption occurred on 28 September when a faulty tower south of Sydney interrupted emergency calls and affected about 4,500 people. Nine calls to the triple-zero network were disrupted, though Optus confirmed the welfare of those involved. This incident came just 10 days after a 13-hour outage on 18 September, caused by a firewall upgrade error. That failure affected South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales. It has been linked to three deaths, though a fourth death, involving an infant, was ruled unrelated. Singtel operates as a subsidiary of Singapore’s state investment firm, Temasek Holdings.

Minister warns of ‘serious lack of confidence’

After meeting Yuen, Rue and Optus chair John Arthur, Communications Minister Annika Wells said the failures had created a “very serious lack of confidence” in Optus’s ability to deliver emergency services. She said the government had asked Singtel to appoint an external reviewer to hold Optus accountable and ensure the required changes were made. Wells described the outages as “completely unacceptable” and stressed that Australians must be assured that triple-zero services will function reliably.

Calls for accountability and reform

Wells confirmed that while human and technical errors contributed to the 18 September outage, Optus had failed to meet its obligations to the public. She said the company could face “significant consequences” once the Australian Communications and Media Authority concluded its investigation. Additional penalties or system-wide reforms could follow. The Albanese government will also fast-track legislation to appoint a custodian for the triple-zero system, a role that has been vacant for nearly a year despite earlier recommendations on its structure.

Optus leadership under scrutiny

Asked whether she had confidence in Rue remaining as chief executive, Wells said he “has a lot of work to do”. She emphasised that he must work closely with Singtel to deliver systemic change within Optus. Rue assumed the role in November 2024 after leaving his position at NBN. He replaced Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who resigned after a massive data breach and a national outage disrupted emergency services in 2023. Yuen said Rue was tasked with leading Optus through a transformation and argued it was “very early days”. He described the 18 September failure as the result of a “people issue” and said it would take time to change processes and culture.

Board expresses cautious support

Optus chair Arthur said Rue was recruited specifically to address deep-seated problems within the company and the board was satisfied he was making progress, though “it is a work in progress”. He added that the 18 September outage was a “process-related incident” caused by mistakes by personnel, not a lack of investment. Arthur stressed Singtel’s long-term commitment to Australia, noting that future announcements would outline the scale of ongoing investment in Optus.

A record of repeated crises

The latest failures have compounded a series of high-profile controversies for Optus. In 2022, a cyberattack compromised personal data of millions of customers. The following year, a nationwide outage disrupted mobile services and emergency calls, sparking widespread outrage. In 2025, the company was fined A$100 million (US$65.83 million) for sales misconduct, further damaging its reputation. These incidents have intensified scrutiny of the company’s governance, with critics questioning whether Optus can reliably provide critical services. Yuen apologised for the network failures and pledged to support Optus’s management in conducting a comprehensive independent investigation. He said the inquiry must ensure there would be no recurrence and that Optus could regain the trust of customers and regulators. “The solution lies in transformation, and Stephen Rue is here to provide it,” Yuen said.