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February 24, 2026 \u2014 6:17pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n Save this article for later<\/p>\n Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n Got it<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s second-largest telco is cutting 200 jobs across its business as it attempts to reset following a disastrous year that included a Triple Zero outage linked to two deaths and a $100 million fine for predatory sales practices.<\/p>\n Optus would not confirm a breakdown of roles to be axed but a source familiar with the matter said the figure was about 200, with potential for some of those to be redeployed within the company after a consultation process that began on Tuesday.<\/p>\n An Optus spokeswoman said the company-wide changes included new hires, leadership changes and \u201crole adjustments\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are bringing in new expertise where needed, supporting transitions and simplifying areas of the business to drive faster, more effective decision-making,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe recognise some of the changes will have a significant impact on some of our people and we are committed to approaching this decision with empathy and respect,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n The job cuts will face scrutiny given they come at a time when the company has been repeatedly criticised for under-investment and offshoring, which it has promised to dial back.<\/p>\n The union for telecommunications workers, the Communications Workers Union, labelled the cuts an \u201cabsolute disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt a time when Optus should be rebuilding trust and investing in Australian jobs, they\u2019re cutting hundreds of roles. It\u2019s an absolute disgrace. How many more disasters will it take for Optus to listen?\u201d assistant secretary James Perkins said.<\/p>\n \u201cTelecommunications is critical national infrastructure. You don\u2019t fix systemic failures by reducing the people responsible for keeping the network safe and reliable. Cost-cutting like this does not make the network more robust or secure.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s 200 Australian families who have just found out that they may not have a way to put food on the table now, during a time when cost of living is at an all-time high. Optus should be ashamed.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite disaster after disaster, Optus is continuing to hollow out its workforce, and customers are paying the price.\u201d<\/p>\n Optus is reeling from a bruising 12 months including a catastrophic Triple Zero outage<\/a> in September which was linked to two deaths that are under coronial investigation. A review into the incident<\/a> by corporate and public sector veteran Kerry Schott, released in December, found at least 10 separate mistakes by Optus engineers and contractor Nokia, describing the failures as \u201cinexcusable\u201d.<\/p>\n Optus chairman John Arthur said at the time that the board was taking action on individual accountability, \u201cwhich will extend from financial penalties through to termination in appropriate cases\u201d. The board accepted all 21 of the review\u2019s recommendations, including moving its operations centre onshore to Australia.<\/p>\n Schott\u2019s review stopped short of calling for chief executive Stephen Rue\u2019s sacking, noting the former NBN boss had started at Optus in November 2024 and was leading a five-year transformation program.<\/p>\n Singtel, the Singapore-based parent company that wholly owns Optus, cut investment in the Australian mobile network by $237 million last year. Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde warned after the September outage that the failures reflected systemic governance breakdowns rather than isolated technical errors.<\/p>\n Related Article Optus\u2019 offshore call centre staff repeatedly failed to escalate warnings from customers about the Triple Zero outage, which was caused in part by errors in Optus\u2019 outsourced network management team. The telco has promised to bring that back in house and hire more Australian call centre workers.<\/p>\n It comes as the federal government on Tuesday announced a wholesale review of the laws governing the emergency services network.<\/p>\n \u201cA comprehensive review of Triple Zero legislation and regulations\u202f\u202fis\u202fa key\u202fstep in rebuilding public confidence in the system and ensuring we have the right framework to reduce the risk of a major outage happening again,\u201d Communications Minister Anika Wells told a CommsDay summit in Canberra.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must do everything in our power to ensure Triple Zero remains reliable, resilient and fit for purpose \u2013 now and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n A third Senate inquiry hearing on Thursday will examine the deadly Triple Zero outage, with Optus executives \u2013 along with executives from its parent company Singtel \u2013 set to be grilled in a hearing led by Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.<\/p>\n Optus agreed to pay $100 million in penalties<\/a> in November after it was sued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for selling products to vulnerable customers they could not afford or use.<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Optus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/d34f4b8bfde8abb8771fc996b56eedee1a4eb4a2.jpeg\")
Optus is reeling from a bruising 12 months.Getty<\/p>\n![\"Thousands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ab33383e04309065bc7536e9fe53a3c539a313f5.jpeg\")
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David Swan<\/a> is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 24, 2026 \u2014 6:17pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-501237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}