Singtel says Optus chief needs more time to turn around struggling telco after outages

SINGAPORE: Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said Optus chief executive Stephen Rue will need more time to revive the Australian subsidiary, following two major network outages in as many weeks that disrupted emergency call services across the country.

Singtel owns Optus, which has come under intense scrutiny in Australia after the failures sparked concerns over the company’s corporate governance and management. Mr Yuen was summoned to Australia to meet with local officials in the wake of the disruptions.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Yuen said Mr Rue, who was appointed 11 months ago, had been brought in to reorganise Optus in order to address longstanding problems dating back to 2022 and 2023. It is still in the early stages, he noted, adding that the turnaround effort will take time.

Mr Yuen said Mr Rue himself acknowledged that a preliminary investigation into the most recent incident on Sept 18 indicated it was caused by human factors. Mr Yuen acknowledged that it was the responsibility of the Optus chief executive to put in place solutions to prevent future failures.

Apologising for the interruption to emergency call services, Mr Yuen said Singtel would back the Optus board and management to ensure that an independent investigation is carried out thoroughly. He pledged that the group would work to ensure such incidents do not happen again.