S$6.82m pay packet marks 17pc cut for Singtel chief after outage-plagued year

SINGAPORE, June 30 — Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) cut group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon’s remuneration by 17 per cent after a year marked by network failures in Australia and Singapore that disrupted emergency services and affected hundreds of thousands of customers, according to Bloomberg.

Yuen’s total remuneration for the financial year ended March 31 fell to S$6.82 million (RM21.5 million) from S$8.21 million a year earlier, according to Singtel’s 2026 annual report released today.

The board said it considered the Optus Triple Zero incident in Australia and Singtel Singapore’s network outages when assessing Yuen’s performance and determining his pay. Total remuneration for the group’s other key management personnel also fell 12 per cent to S$25.9 million.

The pay cut follows an independent review into the September 2025 outage at Singtel’s Australian unit, Optus, which disrupted access to the country’s Triple Zero emergency service. Optus said it had accepted all 21 recommendations from the review and has since strengthened real-time emergency monitoring, expanded onshore network operations and call centres, and introduced automated welfare checks during outages.

In Singapore, Singtel came under investigation by the telecoms regulator in March after a series of mobile network disruptions affected about 600,000 customers.

The operational setbacks coincided with weaker earnings. Net income for the six months ended March fell 21 per cent year-on-year to S$2.21 billion, while revenue was broadly unchanged.

Even so, Singtel expressed confidence in its outlook, saying its diversified regional business leaves it well placed to withstand geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

While acknowledging risks in the Middle East, chairman Lee Theng Kiat and Yuen wrote in the annual report: “the group’s geographical diversification and strong fundamentals serve as advantages that position us to navigate macro and market headwinds”.