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Parent Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) announced the resignation of Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin days after a network-wide outage left nearly half of Australia's 26 million people without phone or internet for 12 hours. Appointed in April 2020, Rosmarin headed Optus through two national scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the telco giant. A massive data hack last year exposed the personal data of 10 million Australians and triggered a class action lawsuit and multiple investigations from regulators. Optus executives told the parliamentary hearing on Friday the telco provider had not foreseen a network-wide outage and so had no backup plan in place. (This story has been corrected to change date of Optus network outage to earlier this month, not last week, in paragraph 7)Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru, and Lewis Jackson and Byron Kaye in Sydney; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Kelly Bayer, Michael Venter, Singtel, Rosmarin, ”, telco, Yuen Kuan, Peter Kaliaropoulos, Himanshi, Lewis Jackson, Byron Kaye, Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates Organizations: telco Optus, Parent Singapore Telecommunications, Optus, Triple, Thomson Locations: Optus, Bengaluru, Sydney

☆ Australian telco Optus CEO resigns days after network-wide outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 20 (Reuters) - Australia's second-largest telco Optus' Chief Executive Officer Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has resigned, its parent Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) said on Monday, days after a network-wide outage left nearly half the country without phone or internet for 12 hours. Optus has appointed Chief Financial Officer Michael Venter as interim CEO. Peter Kaliaropoulos was appointed to a newly created position of chief operating officer, SingTel added. More than 10 million Australians were hit by the 12-hour network blackout at the nation's second-largest telco for much of Wednesday, triggering fury and frustration among customers and raising wider concerns about the telecommunications infrastructure. Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Michael Venter, Peter Kaliaropoulos, SingTel, Yuen Kuan, Himanshi, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Australian telco Optus tells lawmakers it had no plan to address total outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Singtel has said that while Optus experienced an outage after its software upgrade, the upgrade itself was not the cause. "Singtel will support Optus as it learns from what has occurred and continues to improve," the Singapore company said a day earlier. Kanagaratnam told the hearing Optus never expected a total shutdown because it had filters designed to stop all 90 of the company's routers from being overloaded with data. "The outage was a result of our defence not working as it should have," he said. Bayer Rosmarin said 228 calls to Australian emergency hotline Triple-0 failed to connect because of the outage, but the telco had followed up all incidents and "thankfully everybody is OK".

Persons: Kanagaratnam, Singtel, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Bayer Rosmarin, telco, Byron Kaye, Gerry Doyle Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Triple, Bayer, Thomson Locations: Singapore

☆ Optus parent SingTel denies software upgrade as root cause for outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (STEL.SI), the parent of Australian telecoms provider Optus, said on Thursday its planned software update was not the root cause for an outage last week, contradicting Optus' claims earlier this week. Optus had earlier in the week said an initial investigation found the company's network was affected by "changes to routing information from an international peering network" after a "routine software upgrade". SingTel, while confirming that Singtel Internet Exchange (STiX) is one of Optus' international networks that connects to the global internet, denied that the routine software upgrade was the root cause. "We are aware that Optus experienced a network outage after the upgrade when a significant increase in addresses being propagated through their network triggered preset failsafes," SingTel said. SingTel's statement comes a day before Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin faces an Australian senate inquiry into the massive outage.

Persons: SingTel, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Sameer Manekar, Dhanya Ann Thoppil Organizations: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Optus outage nationwide affects millions of Australians, phone and internet connections still down
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Millions of Australians were left without a phone or internet connection on Wednesday after the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider experienced an unexplained nationwide outage. “It is highly unlikely (that the problem started within software in Optus networks), our systems are actually very stable … This is a very, very rare occurrence,” she said. It has wide ramifications across mobile, fixed, and broadband services for Optus customers,” Rowland told reporters. Ramsay Health Care, which owns 70 hospitals and clinics in Australia, its phone services were impacted. “We encourage any customers who need to contact emergency services to use a mobile line to call 000,” Optus said in a statement.

Persons: Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, ”, Angela Ican, Kyle, couldn’t, it’s, “, Michelle Rowland, ” Rowland, Ramsay Organizations: Optus, ABC Radio, Singapore Telecommunications, “, Reuters, ”, Bank, Federal Communications, Health Care, Optus landlines, ” Optus Locations: Australia

☆ Australia's competition tribunal blocks Telstra-TPG Telecom network deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Harish Sridharan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

2 wireless internet provider owned by Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI). TPG said it would review the tribunal's decision before considering its options for further appeal, including a judicial review in the Federal Court. Telstra shares were up 0.7% in early trade, while TPG's shares fell as much as 10.8%, the biggest intraday decline since August 2022. Optus, which had previously opposed the deal on the grounds it would build Telstra's market dominance, said it welcomed the tribunal's decision. "The tribunal's decision was a decisive move for competition in the sector," Commpete Chair Michelle Lim said.

Persons: Vicki Brady, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Commpete, Michelle Lim, Harish Sridharan, Subhranshu Sahu, Jamie Freed, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Companies Telecom, Optus, TPG Telecom, TPG, Telstra, Australian Competition Tribunal, Telstra Group, Australian Competition, Consumer Commission, Singapore Telecommunications, ACCC, ACT, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Australia blocks Telstra-TPG wireless internet deal, sparking legal fight
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Australia's antitrust regulator blocked an asset transfer deal between Telstra and TPG, the country's No.1 and No.2 wireless internet firms, citing competition concerns, setting the scene for a legal battle over access to four million customers. In a deal announced in May, Telstra Group (TLS.AX) was to buy spectrum - airwaves which carry wireless internet - and transmission towers from TPG Telecom Ltd (TPG.AX), while TPG would keep selling 4G and 5G coverage using what would become Telstra's infrastructure. 3 wireless internet provider Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), opposed the deal saying it would build Telstra's market dominance. The decision sets up a second legal showdown between TPG and the ACCC in just over two years. "By knocking back this deal, the ACCC has helped ensure that our regional communities will continue to benefit from competition," said Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin in a statement.

2 mobile operator, said last week that data of up to 10 million customers including home addresses, drivers' licenses and passport numbers had been compromised in one of Australia's biggest data breaches. The Australian federal government has blamed Optus for the breach, flagged an overhaul of privacy rules and higher fines, and suggested the company had "effectively left the window open" for hackers to steal data. Minister For Cyber Security Clare O'Neil said she was "incredibly concerned ... about reports that personal information from the Optus data breach, including Medicare numbers, are now being offered for free and for ransom", referring to the government's health insurance scheme. Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the incident had generated "a lot of misinformation" and the company took data protection seriously. "The Optus data has been stolen, and we can't trust this person.

☆ Optus, Australian govt clash over cyber attack amid reports of hacker retreat
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A woman uses her mobile phone as she walks past in front of an Optus shop in Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said there was lot of "misinformation out there". Rosmarin said Optus had briefed authorities after the government's initial review of the incident. Stolen data posted in an online forum has been deleted and hackers have apologised to Optus, the reports said. Australia's Council Of Financial Regulators, which includes the central bank, on Tuesday said its members have been working together in response to the cyber attack.

☆ Australia's Optus contacts customers caught in cyber attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A woman uses her mobile phone as she walks past in front of an Optus shop in Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/File PhotoSept 24 (Reuters) - Australia's number two telecommunications company, Optus, said on Saturday it was contacting customers about a cyberattack that accessed personal details of up to 10 million customers, in one of Australia's biggest cybersecurity breaches. Optus has said corporate customers appeared unaffected by the "sophisticated" hack, which it initially informed customers about on Thursday. The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday reported Optus was probing a threat to sell millions of customers’ personal information online unless the company paid $1 million in cryptocurrency to the hackers. Optus said as the attack was under police investigation it "cannot comment on certain aspects of the incident".

☆ Australia's Optus says up to 10 mln customers caught in cyber attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A woman uses her mobile phone as she walks past in front of an Optus shop in Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. 2 telco Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (STEL.SI), said it will contact up to 10 million customers whose personal details were taken in a "sophisticated" hack, but added no corporate clients were compromised. As many as 9.8 million accounts may be compromised, equivalent to 40% of Australia's population, but "that is the absolute worst case scenario (and) we have reason to believe that the number is actually smaller than that", Bayer Rosmarin said. Police and cybersecurity authorities were still investigating the attack which Optus told customers about on Thursday. As a major telco, Optus considered itself a target for cyber attackers and routinely repelled attempts to breach its systems but "this particular one is not similar to anything we've seen before, and unfortunately it was successful", she said.

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