Australian minister summons Singtel to meeting after fatal Optus outage

Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells summoned Singtel to a meeting following a fatal outage at its Optus division, warning that the blunder was likely to lead to major financial penalties.

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Ms Wells said she has asked to speak to Singtel when a company delegation is in Australia next week.

“This remains a constant watch for me,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Sept 25. “Meeting with Singtel is an important step.”

In response to queries sent by The Straits Times, Singtel said its group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon will be in Sydney next week for a meeting as a member of the Optus board, and as it supports management through the incident.

He is scheduled to meet Ms Wells together with Optus board chairman John Arthur and Optus CEO Stephen Rue.

The statement sent on Sept 25 said: “Singtel takes this matter seriously and will extend full cooperation to the Australian government and the authorities to address the Optus issue.”