Singtel’s Optus appoints consulting firm Kearney to ‘begin immediate oversight’ following outages
The company pledges to cooperate fully and transparently with the Australian media authority’s probe into the outage issue
[SINGAPORE] Optus reaffirms its commitment to restoring public confidence and acknowledges its responsibility within the national emergency call system, its chairman John Arthur said in a statement on Tuesday (Sep 30).
In a direct bid to repair its reputation and regain the trust of Australians, Optus has appointed global consulting firm Kearney to provide independent oversight of its mobile network following the nationwide outage on Sep 18 that critically affected Triple Zero emergency services.
“They will begin immediate oversight, quality assurance and verification as Optus uplifts its mobile network management, processes and services consistent with required standards,” Arthur said in a statement filed with the Singapore Exchange.
The announcement came after a meeting between Communications Minister Anika Wells, Singtel Group chief executive officer Yuen Kuan Moon, Optus CEO Stephen Rue, and Arthur.
The statement pledged to cooperate fully and transparently with the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s investigation into the outage issue.
The Sep 18 outage affected the delivery of emergency services, which resulted in a few deaths. On Sep 28, Optus was hit by another outage that affected some 4,500 customers and disrupted calls made between 3am and 12.20pm – including emergency calls.
This is a developing story. Check back for more updates.
