Singtel Considering Offloading Optus for $A16B – Media recently reported that Singtel is in advanced talks with Brookfield in relation to selling Optus, one of Australia’s largest Telcos.
It was recently reported in the Australian Financial Review that Singtel, the parent company of Optus, has been in advanced negotiations with Brookfield, a US-based equity fund, in a deal potentially worth $16B.
Singtel, Optus’ ultimate parent, is Singapore Telecommunications Limited’s Singapore-based telecommunications provider. It is a foreign-owned offshore private company that derives revenue from providing telecommunication services. The company employs approximately 6980 people, operates in Australia, and is administered by its head office in Macquarie Park, New South Wales. It has owned Optus for over 2 decades.
It was stated that should the deal proceed, it would deliver an expected value of between $16-$18B for Optus.
The current hurdle is that because Optus is Australia’s second-largest Telco, it owns and maintains an enormous infrastructure within Australia.
This infrastructure is used to carry massive payloads of traffic, including data, voice, and communications, that could potentially place national security at risk should this data traffic fall into the hands of foreign actors.
Much of the end-to-end encryption in telecommunications is also handled by the providers, which means there is potential for this data to be accessed.
In addition to this, these mobile and internet connections are an integral part of Australian main networks and are considered critical modern-day infrastructure.
Any deal of this nature would be scrutinized to the nth degree by all and sundry, as expected. Regulators would place every aspect of the deal under careful consideration before allowing the contract to settle.
Cyber Breach
In September 2022, a massive cyber data breach occurred, which affected nearly 10 million current and former customers. Information stolen included names, birthdates, home addresses, phone numbers, email contacts, and passport and driving licence numbers.
Conflicting claims have been made about how the breach happened; Optus presented it as an advanced international cyber attack. However, an Optus whistleblower and the Australian government have claimed that human error was at fault that caused a vulnerability in the company’s API. A ransom notice was made, asking for A$1,500,000 to stop the data from being sold online. After a few hours, they deleted the ransom notice and apologised for their actions.
Losses
The last financial quarter in December 2023 saw a drop in profits of 12.5 per cent to $464 million. Nonetheless, Optus reported a $1.8 billion revenue in operations, being 5.4 per cent less than the same period in 2022.
With Singtel Considering Offloading Optus Telstra had claimed in media reports that many of the customers who left Optus after the cyber attack had been Telstra’s gain. We have yet to see the impact, if any, on profits due to these attacks.
Optus appears to remain solid, with around 10.5 million mobile customers. Much of the infrastructure that Optus uses is built and owned by Optus, such as repeater towers, communications hubs and microwave links. They are also expanding deeper into regional areas.
Telstra had claimed in media reports that many of the customers who left Optus after the cyber attack had been Telstra’s gain. We have yet to see the impact, if any, on profits due to these attacks. Singtel Considering Offloading Optus
What Does Phishing Scam Mean?
This is when Scammers use email or text messages to trick you into sending them your personal and/or financial information. The best rule of thumb is if you do not recognise the sender and the sender’s email address does not match their email address, or if you are unsure, simply call them and ask first or ignore the email.
Never send out any information unless you are sure it will go to the intended recipient.
