Australia’s telecommunications sector was shaken this week as Optus, the country’s second-largest operator, was handed a record-breaking fine for what a federal judge described as "appalling" and "predatory" sales practices that targeted some of the nation’s most vulnerable citizens. The 100 million Australian dollars ($66 million) penalty, delivered on September 24, 2025, comes after a four-year period during which Optus staff sold mobile phones and contracts to hundreds of customers—many of whom were Indigenous Australians living outside the company’s service coverage and others grappling with mental disabilities, financial hardship, or limited English proficiency.
The ruling, approved by Federal Court Justice Patrick O’Sullivan, follows a case brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which accused Optus of unconscionable conduct and misleading sales tactics. According to the Associated Press, Justice O’Sullivan did not mince words in his condemnation: "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." He further stressed the seriousness of the situation, noting that "numerous individuals experienced severe financial harm, emotional distress and social shame." The judge’s remarks highlighted that many of those affected were already at a disadvantage, including people with mental disabilities, those suffering from financial hardship, and individuals with low financial literacy or learning difficulties.
What made the situation even more egregious was the fact that many of the victims resided in regional and remote Indigenous communities—some living entirely outside the range of Optus’s mobile coverage. Despite this, Optus sales staff reportedly applied undue pressure, fabricated customer details to secure higher credit approvals, and, when debts inevitably went unpaid, passed these cases on to debt collectors. The impact was profound: vulnerable customers were left with contracts for services they could not use, mounting debts, and a sense of betrayal by a company they had trusted.
The penalty, described by many observers as historic, is not the only consequence Optus faces. In June 2025, the company admitted to breaches of corporate law, with CEO Stephen Rue calling the behavior "inexcusable and unacceptable." In a statement released after the ruling, Optus said it was "remediating impacted customers as a matter of priority," though specifics about how this remediation would occur were not provided. As part of the settlement, Optus also agreed to pay AU$1 million ($660,000) to support digital literacy initiatives for Indigenous Australians—a gesture aimed at addressing some of the broader issues of access and understanding that contributed to the scandal in the first place.
The fallout from the court’s decision comes at an already turbulent time for Optus. Just days before the ruling, the company suffered a major network outage on September 18, 2025, which left 631 customers unable to reach emergency services. Tragically, four of those emergencies resulted in fatalities. The outage was later attributed to human error and a failure to follow standard operational processes, rather than a lack of investment in infrastructure. As reported by AP, CEO Stephen Rue stated, "It’s not expenditure, it’s process. The standard processes were not followed. That’s not an investment issue. That is people not following processes."
The outage has prompted a government inquiry into the reliability of Optus’s emergency call system. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that the inquiry would examine whether Singtel, the Singapore-based parent company of Optus, had provided sufficient funding to ensure the reliability of emergency communications. In response, Singtel’s chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon pointed out that the company had invested AU$9.3 billion ($6.2 billion) in Optus over the past five years to build network infrastructure across Australia. "Singtel will continue to invest as needed for Optus to provide reliable communication services to all Australians," Moon said in a statement.
In addition to the fine and public scrutiny, Optus has committed to a five-year, court-enforceable undertaking. This agreement requires the company to compensate affected consumers and overhaul its internal systems to prevent similar misconduct in the future. The ACCC emphasized that many of those impacted had diminished cognitive capacity, were unemployed, or had limited financial literacy—factors that made them particularly susceptible to the predatory tactics employed by sales staff. Justice O’Sullivan noted, "The consequences of Optus’s conduct were profound," underscoring the depth of harm inflicted on individuals and communities.
The case has sparked a broader conversation in Australia about the responsibilities of major corporations, especially those providing essential services like telecommunications. Consumer advocates and Indigenous leaders have called for greater oversight and more robust protections for vulnerable populations. The fact that many of the victims were First Nations Australians from regional and remote areas has added an additional layer of urgency to these calls, highlighting longstanding issues of inequality and access in the country’s digital landscape.
Optus’s actions—and the subsequent court ruling—have also put pressure on other telecom operators to review their own sales and customer service practices. The ACCC’s successful prosecution sends a clear message that regulators are prepared to take strong action against companies that exploit the disadvantaged. For Optus, the financial penalty is substantial, but the reputational damage and loss of public trust may prove even more costly in the long run.
Meanwhile, the technical failures that led to the recent emergency call outage have raised uncomfortable questions about the resilience of Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure. While Singtel’s significant investments were touted as evidence of commitment, the incident has shown that even well-funded systems can fail if basic operational protocols are not followed. The government inquiry, as announced by Treasurer Chalmers, is expected to scrutinize not just Optus’s processes but also the broader regulatory framework governing emergency communications.
As the dust settles, Optus faces the dual challenge of rebuilding trust with its customers and ensuring that its internal reforms are both meaningful and lasting. The company’s pledge to support digital literacy initiatives for Indigenous Australians is a step in the right direction, but many will be watching closely to see if these efforts translate into real change. For the hundreds of individuals who suffered financial harm, emotional distress, and social shame, the hope is that justice—and meaningful redress—will finally be served.
The events of the past week have laid bare the vulnerabilities in both corporate governance and critical infrastructure, leaving many Australians to wonder how such failures could have occurred—and what must be done to prevent them from happening again.