Optus Cuts Nine Comms Roles as NBN Co Executives Take Over

Optus has eliminated up to nine communications roles and brought in a wave of former NBN Co executives to lead its corporate affairs and marketing functions, marking one of the most significant overhauls of a major Australian telco's communications team in recent years.

The restructure follows the arrival of former NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue as Optus CEO in November 2024, triggering a concentrated talent migration from Australia's national broadband network operator into Optus's leadership ranks.

Nine Roles Eliminated Across Internal and External Teams

Optus has cut up to six roles in its internal communications unit and three positions in its external communications team. Staff in external communications were required to reapply for their roles. New external hires are being brought on as contractors rather than permanent employees.

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An Optus spokesperson said the changes were "focused on how the teams are structured to support the business and its transformation program."

Jane McNamara, who joined Optus as VP of external communications in October 2024 from NBN Co, is leading the restructure. She replaced Kathy Lipari, who resigned in January 2025 and joined News Corp.

Felicity Ross, former NBN Co Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, was appointed Optus Managing Director of Corporate Affairs and Marketing in December 2024. Rebecca Kington, Scott Whiffin, and Jennifer Beauvillain De Montreuil have also joined from NBN Co in communications and engagement roles.

A Company Rebuilding After Back-to-Back Public Crises

The restructure comes after a difficult period for Optus. A cyberattack in 2022 exposed customer data. A nationwide network outage in November 2023 affected 10 million services and led directly to CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin's resignation. A subsequent emergency services outage resulted in four deaths, two directly attributed to the network failure.

Crisis communications expert Peter Wilkinson publicly assessed that Rue was "a poor communicator" who "relied heavily on his communication team," adding that "the crisis was beyond them." That assessment helps explain the urgency behind the current restructure.

The communications overhaul is part of a wider leadership reset at Optus. The company is also replacing its CFO and CIO, has appointed a new Chief Security and Risk Officer, and recently named a new CTO Networks, drawing talent from across the Australian telco sector including Telstra and One NZ.

NBN Co Talent Pipeline Signals Strategic Intent

Under Rue's leadership from 2018, NBN Co built a communications function capable of managing one of Australia's largest and most politically sensitive infrastructure projects, connecting over 8 million homes and businesses. That team was shaped by government accountability, regulatory scrutiny, and complex public stakeholder management.

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By importing at least five members of that team into Optus, Rue is signaling a shift toward a more disciplined, accountability-focused approach to communications. The move to contractor-based external communications roles also gives Optus more flexibility to scale its communications capacity quickly during future crises.

Optus is simultaneously cutting 200 to 300 jobs across other functions while planning net headcount growth to 7,500 employees through insourcing of call center and network operations previously managed from India and by Nokia.

The Optus board, chaired by Paul O'Sullivan and including Singtel CEO Yuen Kuan Moon, now receives direct reporting from the CEO and executive team under a governance model aligned with Singtel's 2022 decentralized structure.