Optus desperately needs a reset. Here’s what comes next

Australia’s second-largest telco is priming for a reboot in November, with new chief executive Stephen Rue set to move the company on from various crises ahead of what industry insiders say could be a renewed push towards a sale.

This month Optus announced it had chosen Rue, a corporate veteran who most recently served for a decade at NBN Co, to lead the company from November in an attempt to distance itself from the most difficult 18 months in its 33-year history.

Australia’s second biggest telco is priming for a reboot in November.Credit: Chris Hopkins

Those inside Optus say they’re excited by the appointment, after what they quickly admit was a torrid period under former chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, bookended by Australia’s worst data breach and Australia’s worst telecommunications outage respectively.

They say Rue faces an uphill battle to restore Optus’ brand and trust with customers but that he is surely the man for the job.

“If a genie was to conjure up a dream candidate ... Stephen is it,” said one Optus executive, who wasn’t authorised to speak publicly.

“He’s just what the doctor ordered. If you’re going down a list of boxes to tick, he pretty much ticks all of them. We’re excited.”

Stephen Rue has been named Optus’ next CEO.Credit:

People outside Optus are equally enthused about what Rue can do for the company.

“Stephen Rue is an excellent choice for Optus,” veteran telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said. “Optus has experienced a significant loss of credibility, particularly with the government.

“Stephen boasts extensive connections at that level and enjoys an outstanding reputation. He has adeptly navigated the political landscape, and with his background, he is poised to excel.”

In August 2023, Rue said he was still energised in his role at NBN Co, arguably one of the public sector’s most demanding – and highly remunerated – jobs. Rue was Australia’s best-paid public servant, earning a salary of more than $3 million, some five times more than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Optus does not publish its salary data, but it is assumed that Rue’s pay packet will take a significant haircut when he joins Optus. Telecommunications analysts estimate the CEO role pays about $2 million in addition to any performance bonuses.

“As an immigrant to Australia over 30 years ago, it’s been a real privilege to work for an organisation that’s providing so much benefit to Australia,” the Irish-born Rue said last August. “I started here in 2014, and I was very much part of the team that built out a plan for how we’re going to build a network by 2020. There’s a lot more to be done.

“It remains an exciting job, and it’s a privileged job. There’s almost no better time to be in this industry, and I often say to our people that the best years are ahead of us, and I still think that’s the case for NBN.”

So what changed?

A routine software upgrade gone wrong on November 8 roiled not only Optus but the entire telecommunications sector, and it is still doing so six months later. The resulting 13-hour outage, which crippled hospitals, banks, EFTPOS payment systems and calls to emergency services, trashed Optus’ reputation and cost the jobs of then-CEO Bayer Rosmarin, head of networks Lambo Kanagaratnam and others. Optus also paid a $1.5 million fine after Australia’s media watchdog said the telco had committed a “large-scale public safety breach”.

Former Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin being grilled in the Senate in November 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

In Rue, a former News Corp executive, Optus has landed a steady hand. That represents somewhat the antithesis of former boss Bayer Rosmarin, who was quick to get flustered and lash out if she thought she wasn’t being treated fairly.

In Rue, Optus has also landed someone unafraid to slash jobs or embark on a restructure.

Under his leadership, NBN has cut 500 positions on average each year since 2020.

“At his core, he’s a numbers man, a bean counter,” said a rival telco executive who was not authorised to speak publicly.

“He’s a realist when it comes to the financial side of the business, so if Optus was to go through a restructure, he’d be a good, pragmatic person to lead that.

“If tough decisions need to be made, he’ll make them.”

Those tough decisions may be necessary if parent company Singtel forges ahead with plans to sell Optus. Singtel has said it would “explore all options to maximise shareholder value” for Optus, amid discussions with Canadian private equity giant Brookfield to offload a 20 per cent stake in the business. Those talks are believed to be on hold.

Optus declined to comment.

Telecommunications expert Paul Budde.Credit:

Singtel bought Optus in 2001, whose current valuation is estimated to sit between $16 billion and $18 billion.

“Optus is certainly not the golden child if you look at its earnings performance compared with other Singtel business units,” the unnamed rival telco executive said.

Analyst Paul Budde agreed, saying Rue’s appointment could facilitate Singtel’s desire to sell Optus by priming the company for a sale.

“A prevalent issue facing all telcos is the decline in their share prices as the market increasingly perceives them as utilities rather than tech companies,” he said. “Stephen’s experience in running the NBN as a utility positions him well to bring his expertise to Optus.”

Rue’s experience with sport – he has chaired the Melbourne Storm rugby league team, helping to resurrect the club – will also bode well for Optus’ aspiration to be a serious player in the bruising and lucrative world of sporting rights.

For Rue, the Optus gig in some sense represents his first true crack at a CEO job in which he was the first choice.

Rue was second choice to lead NBN Co, after senior government ministers blocked the appointment of J.B. Rousselot, who was the board’s preferred candidate.

Rousselot co-owned a 1923-built boat with Malcolm Turnbull and was close friends with the former prime minister, leading to perceptions of “jobs for mates” and effectively ending Rousselot’s chances for the role. Rousselot now leads New Zealand telco Chorus.

And what next for Gladys Berejiklian?

The former NSW premier was widely tipped to be an internal frontrunner for Optus CEO, alongside its managing director of customer solutions, Matt Williams.

Berejiklian didn’t put her hand up for the role, according to sources inside Optus, and was not a part of the CEO selection process.

She may never have stood a chance, having been found corrupt by the NSW ICAC last year, a ruling that is still under appeal.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is a top Optus executive.Credit: Oscar Colman

Those inside Optus insist it is business as usual for now for Berejiklian, and that she will continue in her role under the new leadership. The rival telco executive, however, suggested Berejiklian had failed to impress while leading Optus’ enterprise division, even when putting aside the corruption findings against her.

“In two years they haven’t done anything,” the unnamed executive said of Optus’ enterprise arm. “They haven’t gained market share. It’s clearly not working.

“When you think about what a rock-star hire she was, they changed the corporate structure around her to put her into that job, but she has not done a vast amount.

“And then, if you look at the ICAC stuff, Stephen Rue would have a low level of patience for that sort of thing. He likes quiet achievers and good steady hands.”

With Berejiklian around or not, Rue is set to usher in a suite of new executives and a new era for a company that desperately needs a reset.

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