Resignation follows mass network outage
CFO to take over as interim CEO

Nov 20 Reuters The head of Australia39;s secondlargest telco Optus resigned on Monday, cutting short a more than threeyear tenure marred by a massive networkwide outage and one of Australia39;s largest data breaches.

Parent Singapore Telecommunications announced the resignation of Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin days after a networkwide outage left nearly half of Australia39;s 26 million people without phone or internet for 12 hours.

Chief Financial Officer Michael Venter will take over as interim CEO, Singtel said in a statement.

Rosmarin said she decided to resign after time for personal reflection following a parliamentary hearing on Friday where Optus executives said the company had no contingency plan in place for an outage of that scale.

Having now had time for some personal reflection, I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward, she said in the statement.

Appointed in April 2020, Rosmarin headed Optus through two national scandals that have tarnished the reputation of the telco giant. A massive data hack last year exposed the personal data of 10 million Australians and triggered a class action lawsuit and multiple investigations from regulators.

The company was dealt a fresh blow earlier this month when a 12hour network blackout hit more than 10 million Australians, triggering fury and frustration among customers and raising wider…