The Albanese Government has hauled in Optus’s Singaporean owner after last week’s network failure that left hundreds unable to reach Triple Zero and has been linked to three deaths.

Communications Minister Anika Wells confirmed she has summoned Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon (pictured above) to Canberra on Monday, warning the telco faces “significant fines” and demanding answers on how the failure occurred and what will be done to prevent a repeat.

The 13-hour outage on September 18 halted emergency services access, with more than 630 calls failing to connect.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue (pictured below) admitted this week that staff failed to follow established upgrade procedures, calling it a “human error” rather than a technical fault.

“This is the second major Triple Zero outage in two years,” Wells told the ABC. “Australians expect better, lives depend on it.”

Optus has since appointed former NBN Co director Dr Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into the failure. The telco says it will publish the report once completed.

The crisis has reignited scrutiny of Singtel’s stewardship of its Australian subsidiary.

Financial filings show the Singaporean giant cut Optus network investment by $237 million last year, despite reliability concerns after a nationwide blackout in 2023 and a massive cyber breach in 2022. Analysts warn the telco is under-funded and increasingly exposed to risk.

Singtel issued an apology late this week, with Yuen expressing condolences to affected families and pledging “full support” for the review.

However, investors were left largely in the dark during the outage, with Singtel only forwarding Optus’s media statement to the Singapore Stock Exchange after trading closed. Its share price has since slipped nearly 2%.

Pressure is also mounting on Optus’s leadership.

Chairman John Arthur defended the company’s governance, saying Optus is “managed and governed in Australia.”

But critics argue both Optus and Singtel have repeatedly prioritised cost-cutting over resilience, including outsourcing technical staff and call centres offshore.

The telco is also reeling from a record $100 million Federal Court penalty for unconscionable conduct after selling unaffordable phone contracts to vulnerable Australians.

Credit ratings agency S&P has warned Optus’s financial and reputational risks have “materially increased,” citing potential lawsuits, spectrum costs and customer churn.