As Australian regulator seeks $174 M fine, Singapore’s Singtel reveals talks to sell its Optus holding
On the same day that Australia’s communications regulator initiated Federal Court proceedings against Optus Mobile, with a maximum penalty exposure of over A$250 million ($174 million), Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) pursued a possible stake sale in its Australian affiliate.
Singtel said in a statement on Thursday that there is “no certainty or assurance” that any transaction will take place and that it will announce any significant developments that call for disclosure.
As it initially indicated in a statement on May 21, 2026, Singtel is looking for an Australian minority partner who shares its goal of ensuring Optus remains a powerful alternative telecoms provider in Australia.
Additionally, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said in a statement on Thursday that Optus Mobile violated two different legal requirements 1,005 times during the September 18, 2025 outage. The court may impose a maximum penalty of A$250,000 for each infraction.
According to the ACMA, Optus Mobile did not provide end customers with access to the emergency call service or guarantee that emergency calls were routed to the appropriate termination point.
The proceedings come after Optus’s network breakdown in November 2023 prompted prior enforcement action. In this instance, the ACMA’s infringement notice penalties for violations pertaining to emergency calls cost Singtel Optus subsidiaries, notably Optus Mobile, more than A$12 million.
The repeat of a substantial network disruption impacting emergency calls so soon after the outage in November 2023, according to ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin, is a serious worry and one of the reasons the ACMA chose to take the matter to court.
