Optus, the Singapore-owned telco, is once again facing a storm of criticism after its latest nationwide outage left millions without service and emergency calls unconnected — failures now linked to multiple deaths with questions now being asked as to whether it’s time that the Federal Government move to force a sale of Optus.

The company’s leadership, led by chief executive Stephen Rue, has been accused of negligence, incompetence and putting corporate spin ahead of public safety.

Federal observers say it was “monumentally stupid” for Rue and his executive team to delay informing state authorities, including the police and ambulance authorities, until they had “all the facts perfectly lined up.”

By then, the damage was already done and people were dead.

Despite being warned five times that triple-0 services were down, Optus management failed to act for more than 13 hours.

Regulators say the company’s updates were “inaccurate,” while state leaders have branded its behaviour “reprehensible.”

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said Optus’ delay in coming clean “put lives at risk.”

Critics argue that Optus has become a “third-world telco” under its foreign ownership, outsourcing call centres offshore while failing to invest adequately in resilient systems.

SingTel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon claims that trends such as cloud technologies, digitalisation and AI are transforming not only industries and businesses but also how individuals live and work, but has so far failed to comment on the disaster at his Australian subsidiary. Yuen Kuan Moon’s total remuneration for financial year 2025 ended Mar 31 rose 16.8% per cent to over A$9.6 million.

The company’s Singaporean parent, Singtel, has remained largely silent, with observers accusing its executives of being more focused on dividend flows than fixing systemic failures.

This latest breakdown follows the 2022 collapse of Optus’ network after a Singtel-led upgrade.

Despite repeated outages, questions remain as to why no backup systems were in place — particularly for critical emergency services.

Stephen Rue, Optus CEO, who is paid millions to make the right decisions

Stephen Rue, the former NBN chief, has now failed his first major test at Optus.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Government insider predicted it was only a matter of time before Mr Rue’s exit was confirmed just 10 months into the job.

The Daily Telegraph claims Rue was installed in November 2024, a year after previous CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin departed in the wake of a 2023 outage controversy.

“Impossible that he stays,” a former ASX-listed company chair said of Mr Rue.

“The board will need to leave him in situ until they get through this initial period.

“This is not just a corporate disaster and an unbelievable failure, it’s a tragedy.

An ex-CEO with experience in ASX listed companies added: “How a telco could let this happen is unfathomable. This is a second major f–k up by Optus in this space. Anyone close to it, with any responsibility or accountability, will have to go.”

Asked if chief customer officer for enterprise and business, former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, might be caught in any Optus executive clean-out, they replied: “I don’t honestly know what she does there.”.

At NBN, Rue collected more than $3 million a year — over four times the Prime Minister’s salary — and left with a $1.4 million “gardening leave” payout.

At Optus, he quickly approved a 23% increase in executive pay despite ongoing losses.

Under his leadership, remuneration for key management staff rose from $15.3 million to $18.9 million in a single year, even as outages crippled the network.

Rue himself fronted a press conference late on Friday night only after mounting pressure, echoing the same mistake that cost his predecessor, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, her job.

The outage has triggered calls for accountability at the highest level.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would be “surprised” if Optus chief executive Stephen Rue was not considering his position, while the opposition has called for the executive to resign after last week’s fatal Triple Zero outage linked to multiple deaths.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said the consequences will reverberate across the industry, while regulators consider new penalties.

Some observers believe criminal negligence charges for executives cannot be ruled out.

Optus is now unlikely to secure any new government contracts for years.

The damage to its brand, however, could be even more costly.

Despite its failures, the Australian newspaper claims that Australia still needs Optus.

The competition regulator has long argued that Optus is vital to keep pressure on Telstra, preventing it from dominating the market.

But unless Singtel and its senior management overhaul Optus — or hand the business to someone else — the telco’s credibility may be beyond repair.

This is one good reason why the For Sale sign should go up at Optus.