The Australian telco was accused of manipulating credit check results without customers&rsquo knowledge and selling phones and plans to vulnerable individuals

 

[SINGAPORE] Optus Mobile has reached a settlement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which filed court proceedings against it over alleged sales misconduct, the Singtel subsidiary said on Wednesday (Jun 18).

 

The legal proceedings, filed in the Federal Court of Australia, accused Optus of acting unconscionably and conducting inappropriate sales practices in dealings with around 429 customers between August 2019 and July 2023.

 

The settlement includes a proposed penalty of A$100 million (S$83.4 million), which will be considered by the Federal Court for approval, and an enforceable undertaking to implement change.

 

The penalty is fully provided for in the previous financial year ended Mar 31, 2025.

 

Under the terms of the enforceable undertaking, Optus said it is taking steps to address the misconduct. These include making changes to its retail processes, systems and sales incentives.

 

It added that it has apologised to affected customers and is providing them with remediation.

 

Sales misconduct

In October 2024, Singtel announced that ACCC had lodged legal proceedings against Optus for allegedly selling mobile phones and plans to vulnerable customers, including individuals with diminished cognitive capacity and learning disabilities.

 

Sales staff allegedly manipulated credit check results without consumers&rsquo knowledge to sell mobile phones and plans they could not afford, as well as failed to explain the terms and conditions in an understandable manner.

 

The company was also accused of engaging debt collectors to pursue customers, despite knowing that their contracts were created fraudulently. It allegedly referred and sold consumers&rsquo debt to third-party debt collection agencies.

 

This caused many consumers to suffer financial harm, incurring thousands of dollars of debt, as well as non-financial harm, such as shame, fear and emotional distress about the debts or from being pursued by debt collectors, said ACCC chairperson Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

 

In response to the allegations, Optus said at the time that it was addressing affected customers by providing refunds, waiving outstanding debts and allowing them to keep their mobile phones.

 

In this episode of the Beansprout Podcast, Singtel Group CFO, Arthur Lang, shares what&rsquo s behind its recent momentum, and where the next wave of growth may be coming from.

 

We discuss:

&bull What is driving Singtel' s higher underlying profit and dividends in FY25

&bull How Singtel aims to enhance returns for shareholders through its S$2 billion Value Realisation Share Buyback programme

&bull Potential growth drivers through Singtel28

On Jun 5, Singtel independent non-executive director Yong Ying-I acquired 150,000 shares at an average price of S$3.87 per share. This increased her direct interest to 210,000 shares.

 

On May 22, Singtel launched a value realisation buyback programme of up to S$2 billion, funded by excess capital from asset recycling. This follows on from the group changing its dividend policy back in May 2024 to include a value realisation dividend in addition to a core dividend. Since then, the mid-term asset recycling target of S$6 billion under the Singtel28 growth plan has been raised to S$9 billion.