Australia’s telecommunications landscape has been rocked by a string of scandals and crises involving Optus, the country’s second-largest telco. On September 24, 2025, the Federal Court of Australia handed down a record AU$100 million (US$66 million) fine to Optus for what Justice Patrick O’Sullivan called “systematic exploitation” of vulnerable customers. This landmark penalty—one of the largest ever imposed in Australian consumer law—comes as Optus reels from a recent network outage that left hundreds unable to reach emergency services, and has been linked to several deaths.
According to ABC, the court found that between January 2019 and September 2023, Optus sales staff, driven by commission-based incentives, targeted disadvantaged individuals—many from remote Indigenous communities, the elderly, and those with cognitive disabilities. The misconduct spanned at least 16 stores across the nation, with staff employing deceptive tactics such as undue pressure, selling multiple unnecessary devices and plans, and failing to explain contractual terms. In some cases, customers were even sold services in areas with no Optus network coverage, rendering the products useless.
The details that emerged in court were harrowing. One man, who was deaf, mute, and had partially amputated fingers, was signed up for four separate contracts totaling more than AU$7,500. He was left with monthly repayments he could not possibly meet. When his support worker attempted to intervene, Optus staff refused to engage, insisting on speaking directly with the customer despite being told of his disabilities. In another instance, a woman with cerebral palsy and ADHD—living on a disability pension—was trapped in 24 separate contracts, overdrawing her account by nearly AU$3,000 at one point. Her carers repeatedly warned Optus of her inability to understand or afford the services, but their pleas fell on deaf ears, and her debts were sent to collectors.
Justice O’Sullivan did not mince words in his ruling, describing Optus’s behavior as “appalling,” “extremely serious,” and a “manifest betrayal of trust.” He found that managers in certain stores, particularly in Darwin, actively taught junior staff how to engage in misconduct, and that senior management knew of these failures for years but failed to act. “Optus senior management knew or ought to have known of the system failures that allowed the unconscionable conduct, which may rightly be described as predatory, to occur, yet failed to act with any sense of urgency,” O’Sullivan wrote. “In failing to act notwithstanding knowledge, senior management abrogated their management responsibilities and consequently Optus abrogated any semblance of responsible corporate behaviour.”
The court also condemned Optus for misleading the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). In September 2023, after the TIO raised concerns about misconduct in Darwin, Optus falsely claimed it had not found evidence of targeting vulnerable or First Nations customers. Justice O’Sullivan labeled this failure to disclose the full extent of internal findings a “disgrace.”
As part of the penalty, Optus must pay the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) legal costs of AU$1.5 million and publish corrective notices online, in newspapers, and in its retail stores. The company also entered into a five-year enforceable undertaking with the ACCC to overhaul its practices. This includes appointing a senior compliance officer reporting directly to the CEO, redesigning sales commission structures to prioritize customer service, and improving training on identifying and assisting vulnerable customers. Optus will buy back 34 licensee stores—especially those where misconduct occurred—to bring them under direct management. Additionally, the company will donate AU$1 million (about $660,000) to support digital literacy initiatives for First Nations Australians.
Optus CEO Stephen Rue acknowledged the gravity of the situation, stating, “Optus is remediating impacted customers as a matter of priority.” The company claims to have “fully remediated most of the customers identified by the ACCC,” and says it is working with financial counsellor services to identify and support others impacted by sales misconduct. “We have changed our sales practices to better support customers,” Optus said, vowing to work closely with the ACCC and an independent auditor to ensure the enforceable undertaking is implemented transparently and on schedule.
But the regulatory firestorm is just one part of Optus’s woes. On September 18, 2025, a catastrophic network outage hit South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, affecting at least 600 people for over 10 hours. The outage prevented hundreds of calls to Australia’s Triple Zero (000) emergency line, with at least three—possibly four—deaths now linked to the failure, according to BBC and Al Jazeera. The incident has sparked outrage and renewed scrutiny over the reliability of Australia’s critical communications infrastructure.
Both Optus and its parent company, Singapore-based Singtel, issued public apologies. “There are no words that can express how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people, who could not reach emergency services in their time of need,” said Stephen Rue. Singtel CEO Yuen Kuan Moon echoed the sentiment, stating, “We are deeply sorry to learn about the network incident at our Optus subsidiary that has impacted Triple Zero calls, and to hear that customers could not connect to emergency services when they most needed them. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have passed away.”
In response to the outage, Optus announced an independent review to be led by Kerry Schott, a respected executive with experience at Deutsche Bank and Sydney Water. The review, expected to conclude by the end of 2025, will examine the causes of the outage, the company’s policies and procedures, and the management of emergency calls. “While our internal investigations are ongoing, this independent review will identify the causes, and canvass the applicable processes, protocols and operations of the incident,” Rue said. Singtel, for its part, has invested over AU$9.3 billion in Optus over the past five years and pledged continued support to improve network reliability.
Optus’s troubles are not limited to sales misconduct and network failures. In August 2025, Australia’s privacy watchdog filed a lawsuit against the company over alleged data protection failures stemming from a 2022 cyberattack that exposed the personal information of 9.5 million customers. The company was also fined AU$9 million in 2024 after another outage disrupted more than 2,000 Triple Zero calls the previous year.
For many Australians, especially those in remote and Indigenous communities, the events of the past year have shaken confidence in a company that is supposed to be a lifeline. As the independent review unfolds and Optus works to implement sweeping reforms, the telecom sector will be watching closely. The hope, for those most affected, is that these hard lessons will finally lead to lasting change.
