Optus appoints NBN boss Stephen Rue as chief executive

Australia’s second-largest telco Optus has appointed a new chief executive, with NBN Co boss Stephen Rue to take the reins six months after a mass outage that affected some 10 million Optus customers.

Rue, a former News Corp executive, will join Optus in November after the telco conducted an extensive internal, external and international search, according to Optus chairman Paul Sullivan.

“Stephen was chosen after a rigorous process that involved a slate of high-quality candidates. We’re extremely pleased to have someone of his calibre to lead the next chapter at Optus,” O’Sullivan said.

“His experience in setting up the digital backbone of Australia will serve us well as we reinvigorate Optus as Australia’s leading challenger telecommunications brand. We expect Stephen’s operational and financial background to lift service standards significantly for the benefit of our customers.”

Rue said he was honoured and excited to join Optus after a decade at NBN Co, where has served as CEO since 2018.

“My job will be to take care of Optus’ customers, people and business and to provide strong competition and choice,” he said. “I look forward to accelerating the transformation at Optus so fellow Australians continue to have the choice of a strong alternative telecoms provider and the country as a whole can harness the power of digital connectivity to drive economic participation and social inclusion.”

Former CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin departed late last year after a November outage that affected 10 million Australians and crippled the communications networks of small businesses, hospitals and railway lines.

Optus’ parent company Singtel, which is based in Singapore, has also revamped the telco’s governance model, with the Optus CEO and executives reporting to the Optus board, rather than Singtel. The Optus board and executives would “work together to reset strategy and rebuild customer trust in the Optus brand,” the telco said in a statement.