Optus boss quits after mass outage

SYDNEY

The boss of Australian telecoms provider Optus has resigned following a mass outage that cut communications to more than 10 million people, its parent group said yesterday.

Chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin is being replaced three days after she was grilled by Australia's Senate over a technical glitch in the early hours of Nov. 8 that halted Optus' mobile and internet systems for nearly 12 hours.

"Having now had time for some personal reflection, I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward," she said in a statement released by parent company Singtel.

Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said the outgoing Optus chief had led the company through a "challenging period" including the COVID-19 pandemic, managing to improve the company's financial performance.

"We understand her decision and wish her the very best in her future endeavours," Yuen said.

Optus appointed chief financial officer Michael Venter as interim chief executive, in addition to his existing role, while it seeks a permanent replacement.

Optus said the nationwide outage was caused when its routers automatically disconnected after becoming overloaded during a scheduled software upgrade.

Unable to pinpoint the exact cause more than six hours after the outage began, Optus had to perform a hard reset of its systems.

Bayer Rosmarin told the Senate on Nov. 17 that the Optus network should have been able to cope "but on this occasion it did not".