PM Wong says Singtel will work with Optus to fully investigate outages
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong extended his condolences to those affected by the Optus outages; Singtel owns Optus.
During his visit to Australia, PM Wong had an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
In this interview, he answered a question about the incidents, which resulted in at least three deaths.
Source: ABC News (Australia) on YouTube
PM Wong asked what actions he is taking over Optus outages
ABC Global Affairs Editor Laura Tingle asked Mr Wong what he was personally doing to prevent such outages from happening 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
However, 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.
He added that Singapore authorities want these companies to operate commercially.
When they expand overseas, they must comply fully with domestic laws and act as responsible corporate citizens.
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 had recently travelled to Sydney to meet with the Australian authorities regarding the outages.
He said he was sure that they would “cooperate fully with the authorities”.
They would work closely with Optus to conduct a full investigation into what happened, Mr Wong added:
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.
Optus has also 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.
