Kidman added that switching carriers has never been easier. “Mobile services are easy to switch, and Australians are increasingly happy to do so,” he said. “Our latest research shows 17 per cent of Australians have switched their mobile plan in the last six months … I wouldn’t be surprised if that trends further upwards.”
It points to a grim outlook for Australia’s second-largest carrier, whose brand was only beginning to recover after the previous nationwide blackout, which itself came after Optus suffered Australia’s worst cyberattack. Those incidents not only triggered the resignation of former chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, but led to a mass customer exodus and long-lasting brand damage.
Now her successor, Stephen Rue, is under siege after previously vowing such a failure would never happen again.
Former Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin during a Senate hearing on November 17, 2023. She resigned three days later.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Gregory believes Rue’s position is untenable given his public comments. Rue has faced growing calls to resign from the federal opposition and the Communication Workers Union, among others.
“He guaranteed this wouldn’t happen, and by his own words, he shouldn’t be there now,” Gregory said.
But governance expert Helen Bird, from Swinburne University, argues that focusing solely on the chief executive risks letting Optus off too easily.
“Knocking off the CEO isn’t going to do what people want it to do,” Bird said. “It just gives the impression something has been done when nothing has really changed. We should be calling Optus to account for its actions, which is a much harder thing to do but also more important.”
Bird said the deeper issue lies in Optus’ ownership and governance. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Singtel, key decisions around resourcing and risk management are often determined offshore. While Optus has added more independent directors – and under Rue’s leadership now has a local board – she said there was still an absence of responsibility on the ground in Australia.
Peter Roberts, a communications expert at UNSW, also cautions against seeing Rue’s removal as a fix. He argues Optus’ struggles stem as much from poor communication as technical failure.
Optus chief executive Stephen Rue has faced calls to resign.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
“Rue’s removal may assuage some of the media frenzy, but ultimately the recent issues have been compounded by tardy communications,” Roberts said.
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“This is probably down to the fact that the organisational paymasters are not here in Australia; they are in Singapore. And while there’s not a huge time difference between us, you tend to be immune to the criticism when you are a little away from the fire.”
Optus now faces an arduous path in trying to hold on to as many of its customers as possible, and restoring trust with those who do remain. Bird said that will require true transparency about what went wrong, a clear timetable for fixes, and a commitment to exceeding minimum requirements.
“It’s not enough to be just a regular private company when you’re running an essential service,” she said.
“Telstra has had outages too, but it handled them better. This is about resources, disclosure, and proper governance. Optus hasn’t shown Australians it can deliver that, and until it does, trust will remain broken.”
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