Optus announces CFO departure amid scrutiny over emergency call outage
23/10/2025 08:57
Oct 23 (Reuters) - SingTel-owned STEL.SI Optus said on Thursday that two of its senior executives, including its finance chief, will step down next year at a time when Australia's no.2 telecom operator faces intense scrutiny over two back-to-back outages linked to four deaths. Optus said Chief Financial Officer Michael Venter will step down next year and will be replaced by Andy Giles Knopp in April. Chief Information Officer Mark Potter will also depart in March and will be replaced by John McInerney starting next month. The leadership reshuffle comes amid intense scrutiny of Optus following two back-to-back outages of the emergency "000" number less than a fortnight apart that affected thousands, with the first glitch linked to four deaths. Optus did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the leadership changes. Earlier this month, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, and raised concerns about the outage. Wong said he expects Optus and SingTel, majority owned by Singapore's state-owned investor Temasek TEM.UL, to fully comply with the Australian laws and cooperate in the ongoing inquiry. Knopp will join Optus from Aussie Broadband ABB.AX, where he is set to depart from his role as chief financial officer at an unspecified date after a 19-month stint. He has previously worked with Vodafone in the United Kingdom, Telstra TLS.AX, and Starbucks Australia, as per his LinkedInprofile. (Reporting by Atharva Singh; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar) ((Atharva.Singh@thomsonreuters.com;))