Singapore Telecommunications said on Thursday (May 21) it was looking to sell a minority stake in its Australian unit Optus, and shared capital spending plans of $4.2 billion in 2027.Singtel said it was looking for a «like-minded long-term local partner owning a meaningful minority stake» in the Australian operator, which has been owned by Singtel for over 25 years and is Australia's second-largest telecom firm.Optus has been under intense scrutiny over two back-to-back outages of an emergency number that affected thousands of users and were linked to four deaths. The incidents led to the departure of two senior executives, including its finance chief.Singtel said the sale process may entail engaging with local partners who bring the «expertise to improve service provision and quality».It sold a stake in India's Bharti Airtel for $1.16 billion last year as a part of an ongoing asset restructuring strategy.In a separate statement on its annual results, Singtel said its planned 2027 spending would be about $3 billion, with an extra $1.2 billion allocated for data centres and AI-related purposes. Read more