A statement from Optus said his appointment had been made after an extensive internal, external and international search.

Optus chairman Paul O’Sullivan said: “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.

"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's predecessor, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, resigned in November last year following the disastrous outage on 8 November. Optus suffered a nation-wide outage that day, with its mobile and broadband services out of commission from 4am until 6pm.

This was the second major disaster over which Bayer Rosmarin had presided. In 2022, Optus was hit by a network attack, with access to the company's network being gained through a publicly accessible API.

Rue said he was honoured and excited to be given the opportunity to lead Optus.

"Optus’ continuous investments in critical infrastructure through the years has resulted in an extensive 5G network that is being strengthened in regional Australia," he noted.

"My job will be to take care of Optus’ customers, people and business and to provide strong competition and choice.

"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.”

Optus said the appointment of the new chief executive coincided with the introduction of a new governance model in line with the Singtel Group’s move in 2022 "to adopt a decentralised operating company-driven structure to empower its businesses and leverage commercial synergies and capabilities to drive growth".

This means the Optus chief executive and executives will report to the Optus Board and Rue will join the board and report to the chairman.

The board and executives are expected to work together to reset strategy and rebuild customer trust in the Optus brand. Members of the board include O’Sullivan (Chair), Yuen Kuan Moon, John Arthur, Lim Cheng Cheng and Michael Venter.

Singtel Group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said: “Optus has been part of the Singtel stable for two decades and remains a strategic long-term commitment. We are extremely excited to have Stephen, with his deep understanding of the industry and strong operational experience to take Optus forward.

"In today’s uncertain economic environment, businesses need greater independence and agility to better navigate the market and we believe the new governance model will set the Optus management up for success and help Optus restore and cement its position as a leading player in the Australian telecommunications market.”

Michael Venter will continue as interim chief executive until Rue takes over. Venter has been in this since 20 November 2023.

O’Sullivan added, “I would like to thank Michael Venter for his leadership as acting chief executive during this interim period. He has been unstinting in his efforts to rebuild customer trust and strengthen the business and will remain an asset to Optus going forward.”