Singtel confirmed on July 30 that it was in discussions with multiple parties over a potential stake sale in its Australian telecommunications unit Optus, but said there was no certainty that the talks would result in a deal.Optus, Australia’s second-largest telecoms provider, has been owned by Singtel since 2001.The company did not say which parties it is speaking with.In May, Singtel said it was open to bringing in an Australian minority partner for Optus.Reuters reported in March 2024 that Singtel was in advanced talks to sell a significant stake in Optus to Brookfield Asset Management, but the company denied that there was any imminent deal for the sale.Regulatory headwindsOptus is under heightened scrutiny following two outages involving Australia’s emergency call service that affected thousands of users and were linked to two deaths.The incidents led to the departure of two senior executives, including the company’s finance chief.Australia’s communications regulator said on July 30 that it had launched Federal Court proceedings against Optus Mobile over the September 2025 outage, one of the incidents that drew criticism of the telecom provider.The Australian Communications and Media Authority has alleged that Optus breached two legal obligations on 1,005 occasions during the outage by failing to provide access to the emergency call service and ensuring that these calls were carried to the relevant termination point.The regulator is seeking penalties of up to A$250,000 (S$225,000) for each contravention.Optus acknowledged the regulatory proceedings in an e-mail response to Reuters, adding that it continues to invest in network resilience and strengthen its systems and processes.Singtel did not respond to a request for comment on the stake-sale discussions. REUTERS