Optus Emergency Call Outages Spark Australian Government Probe and Singtel CEO Endorses Optus CEO Fix

Singtel CEO Yuen Kuan Moon has stated that Optus CEO Stephen Rue, appointed 11 months ago, will need more time to turn around the troubled Australian telecom following consecutive outages that disrupted emergency call services and triggered widespread criticism. The outages included a 13-hour disruption on September 18 due to a firewall upgrade error linked to multiple deaths, and a subsequent incident caused by a faulty tower affecting thousands and emergency calls. Australian officials, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Annika Wells, condemned Optus for letting down the nation and emphasized the need for external independent investigations and accountability. The government is pushing for reforms, including fast-tracking legislation to appoint a custodian for the triple-zero emergency system to restore public confidence. Singtel has pledged full support for independent inquiries and is backing Optus management to fix longstanding issues stemming from prior failures dating back to 2022 and 2023. Despite the intense scrutiny and reputational damage from outages and a previous data breach, Singtel urges patience as Rue works to transform the company and prevent future failures.