Optus Faces Criticism for Inadequate Compensation Offer
Optus, one of Australia’s leading telecommunications providers, is receiving backlash due to its compensation response following a widespread outage experienced by customers. The 14-hour outage disrupted internet and phone services, causing significant consequences for various sectors including transportation and healthcare communications.
CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin issued an apology to address customer grievances, acknowledging the profound impact on consumers and small businesses. However, the compensation offer, which includes additional data allowances, has been met with skepticism and critique. Critics argue that the offer falls short of rectifying the inconvenience caused by the outage.
Many have raised concerns about the practical utility of additional data, especially for users who predominantly rely on wifi connections. Small business ombudsman Bruce Billson has deemed the compensation offer inadequate, particularly for businesses heavily dependent on telecommunications services. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) has also echoed concerns, encouraging individualized responses to meet customer expectations.
A Senate inquiry is launched to scrutinize the outage’s causes and the adequacy of compensation for affected customers. The company attributed the outage to a failure in its “modern intelligent router network,” an explanation that will likely be subject to further investigation during the inquiry.
As the situation remains under intense scrutiny, it is clear that Optus’s handling of the compensation issue is far from over. The company will need to address the concerns raised by both consumers and government agencies to regain public trust and confidence.
