The chief executive of Australian telecom giant Optus has resigned after a nationwide outage this month. Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has been under pressure to quit after overseeing a tumultuous three years for the firm. Along with the network failure which left almost half of Australia disconnected, she was at the helm during a major data breach last year. In a statement, she said it had been “an honour to serve” but it was now appropriate for her to step down. “Having now had time for some personal reflection, I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward.” Ms Bayer Rosmarin will be replaced by chief financial officer Michael Venter while the firm searches for a replacement. The chief executive of Optus’s Singaporean parent company thanked her for her hard work during a “challenging period” – pointing out she had improved financial performance despite being appointed at the beginning of the pandemic.