There is a host of tangible opportunities for the federal government to punish Optus, ranging from a fine to limiting its ability to participate in the auction of fresh spectrum, and imposing harsher conditions on the company’s licence to operate in the country.
SingTel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon.Credit: Getty
A review into the large-scale Optus outage in 2023, which cost the telco $12 million in fines, produced a series of recommendations, chief among them was to establish an independent manager of Triple Zero emergency systems.
And while this was agreed by the government, the role appears to be not yet fully operational.
Whichever path is chosen, the federal government has the option to impose a punishment that will galvanise the attention of Optus’ parent company Singtel, where the real decisions are made about the level of investment in and staffing of the network.
Optus is only one of several offshore companies owned or controlled by Singtel. It has always considered itself as a challenger company to the dominant Australian telco, Telstra.
There is also the additional wrinkle that Singtel is ostensibly owned by the Singaporean government, so hauling it over the coals has diplomatic implications.
These considerations raise questions over whether Singtel will take a look at selling Optus. There was intense speculation last year, although denied, that Singtel had fielded an offer from Brookfield that fell over after a price could not be agreed.
Meanwhile for Optus, marketing strategies, platitudes, promises and even sponsorships feel hollow if the basic services break down.
In Singtel’s most recent (pre-outage) annual report, Rue said, “the biggest opportunity we have is to do better for our customers and stakeholders, and do it consistently. That starts with regaining trust. We are focused on the fundamentals: exceptional service, reliable infrastructure, competitive offers and disciplined cost and capital management.”
Rue may yet come to regret those words in light of what has taken place over the past couple of weeks, particularly the references to “reliable infrastructure”, “doing better for customers” and “trust”.
For now, Optus could not have dreamt of a worse start to a week – its top brass is going to get a grilling from the federal government and its brand continues to get flamed by the public.
Rue must be getting tired of apologising, but he’s probably going to have to deliver a few more mea culpas before the dust settles.
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