A Federal Court judge on Wednesday ordered Optus to pay a A$100 million fine for its “appalling” high-pressure sales tactics over several years up to 2023. More than 400 people were pressured or misled into buying phones or contracts they didn’t want, couldn’t afford – or in some cases couldn’t even use.
The court’s decision approves an agreement reached between Optus and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in June, under which Optus admitted it had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” and accepted the penalty, as well as various remediation measures.
Optus chief executive Stephen Rue (who only joined the company in November last year) was asked about the fine earlier in the day, while giving an update on last week’s Triple Zero outage.
