Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has expressed his condolences to families of three people whose deaths were linked to a 13-hour outage on 18 September that disrupted emergency calls on the Optus network, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel).
In an interview with Australian broadcaster ABC on 2 October, Wong said he fully understood the anger and frustration surrounding the incident.
“I would like to extend my condolences to everyone who has been impacted by the outage, especially the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives,” he said.
The outage reportedly affected around 600 emergency callers, with three elderly people later found dead in Perth and Adelaide homes that had made emergency calls through the Optus network.
A fourth death, that of an eight-week-old infant, was later deemed unrelated after it was confirmed another phone successfully connected to emergency services.
Wong, when asked by ABC journalist Laura Tingle what actions he was taking to prevent a recurrence, stressed that Singapore’s government does not intervene in the commercial operations of Temasek-owned companies.
“As far as Singapore is concerned, while we may be a shareholder through Temasek, we have always operated on a very clear cardinal principle that we do not get involved in commercial operations,” Wong said.
“We expect our companies and their subsidiaries to comply with domestic laws and act as responsible corporate citizens.”
He added that Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon had travelled to Australia to cooperate with regulators and assist investigations into the failure.
“They will, I am sure, cooperate fully with the authorities and the regulator, and work closely with independent parties to conduct a full investigation,” Wong said.
Australian minister calls Optus failures unacceptable as Singtel urges patience with CEO
The outage, Optus’s second major failure since 2023, reignited scrutiny over the company’s ability to maintain essential communications infrastructure.
A smaller, unrelated disruption on 28 September affected about 4,500 people in New South Wales when a faulty tower interrupted calls to emergency services.
Following meetings with Yuen, Optus chief executive Stephen Rue and Optus chair John Arthur, Australia’s Communications Minister Annika Wells described the situation as “completely unacceptable”.
She said the Australian government had requested that Singtel appoint an external reviewer to ensure accountability and systemic reform.
“These failures have created a very serious lack of confidence in Optus’s ability to deliver emergency services,” she said.
Wells confirmed that human and technical errors had contributed to the 18 September outage and that Optus had failed to meet its public service obligations.
She warned that “significant consequences” could follow once the Australian Communications and Media Authority completes its investigation.
Optus was previously fined over A$12 million following a major 2023 outage that similarly left thousands unable to reach emergency services.
That incident triggered a sweeping review, leading to recommendations aimed at strengthening emergency call resilience.
Singtel, which owns Optus through its 51 per cent shareholder Temasek Holdings, has faced rising pressure to restore public trust.
Rue, who was appointed 11 months ago, has said he needs more time to implement organisational changes.
Optus chair Arthur has stated that the company remains committed to cooperating with the Australian government.
“We are always open to external perspectives and will work with the government to do what is required,” he said.
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