n a remarkably candid interview with ABC’s Inside Business program, Optus CEO Kevin Russell has described his company as the ‘best of a bad bunch’, and slammed Australian carriers as complacent and self-aggrandising.

In his interview, Mr Russell said that Australian telcos had ‘covered themselves in glory’ over the last five years, saying that the company had ‘lost its way’ over the past four years.

"I think we could have done better in the last three or four years and I believe overall, we followed the market a little bit more than led the market,” Mr Russell said.

"I am saying that the industry in Australia in my view has gone backwards over the last five or six years in terms of how it treats its customers. I think that's a collective issue, I think it's across all of the major carriers.”