PM Wong says Singtel will work with Optus to fully investigate outages
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has extended his condolences to those affected by the outages of Australian telco Optus, which is owned by Singtel.
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) released on Monday (6 Oct), he answered a question on the incidents, which resulted in at least three people losing their lives.
Source: ABC News (Australia) on YouTube
PM Wong asked what actions he is taking over Optus outages
Mr Wong, who is currently visiting Australia, was asked by ABC Global Affairs Editor Laura Tingle what actions he was “personally taking” to ensure the outages do not happen again.
He replied that he “can fully understand” the anger, frustration and outrage experienced by those affected, saying:
And I would like to extend my condolences to everyone who has been impacted by the outage, especially the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives.
The first Optus outage on 18 Sept caused users to be unable to call the emergency number of “000” in Australia.
This led to at least three people dying due to the likely lack of emergency assistance.
Source: Google Maps
Optus subsequently suffered another outage on 28 Sept that also disrupted emergency calls.
Both outages affected thousands of customers.
S’pore does not direct commercial matters of firms
But Mr Wong said that while Singapore may be a “shareholder through Temasek (Holdings)”, it operates on a “very clear cardinal principle”.
“We do not direct commercial matters,” he said.
The Singapore authorities want these companies to operate commercially, and when they expand overseas, they are fully expected to comply with domestic laws and be “responsible corporate citizens”, he added.
Temasek currently owns 51.41% of Singtel, according to Investing.com.
Source: Google Maps
PM Wong hopes they rectify issue soon
Mr Wong noted that Singtel Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Yuen Kuan Moon travelled to Sydney recently to meet the Australian authorities over the outages.
He said he was sure that they would “cooperate fully with the authorities” and work closely with Optus to conduct a full investigation into what happened, adding:
And I hope they get to the bottom of it as soon as possible, identify the root causes, rectify the issue and restore confidence and trust as soon as possible.
Source: Prime Minister’s Office
Optus to cooperate ‘fully & transparently’ with investigation
In a statement on 30 Sept, Optus Chairman John Arthur said he had a “constructive discussion” with Mr Yuen, Optus CEO Stephen Rue and Communications Minister Anika Wells.
Optus will “cooperate fully and transparently” with the Australian authorities’ investigation into the outages, and has appointed global consulting firm Kearney to provide “additional oversight” of its mobile network, as well as quality assurance and verification.
The Optus Board is “confident” that its management team will strengthen the mobile network to restore the “confidence and trust” of the Australians, he noted, adding:
The Board’s highest priority is ensuring that Australians can rely on Triple Zero when it matters most, and we would once again like to apologise to all those impacted by the 18 September outage.
PM Wong is making an introductory visit to Australia from 6 Oct to 9 Oct and New Zealand from 9 Oct to 11 Oct.
Also read: SingTel users report landline outage, emergency hotlines 999 and 995 disrupted
SingTel users report landline outage, emergency hotlines 999 and 995 disrupted
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Featured image adapted from ABC News (Australia) on YouTube and Google Maps.
