Appointment of Executive Chairman of NBNCo

On 25 July, the federal government announced the appointment of Mike Quigley as the Executive Chairman of the company (NBNCo) established to deliver the National Broadband Network (NBN).

According to a press release from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Quigley is an Australian who reached the top of his profession globally and is now able to bring the benefit of that experience home. Besides Quigley, few people in the world have firsthand experience with the deployment of the type of network our National Broadband Network plan involves. He understands the technology, the applications and all of the considerations that go into making a network viable.

Quigley has had a 36-year career at Alcatel, most recently as its Chief Operating Officer. He also led Alcatel's team in the negotiations of the 21-billion-euro merger with Lucent Technologies in 2006, before his decision to return to Australia in 2007.

During the course of his career, Quigley has led the development and integration of large scale fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) and fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) implementations for some of the largest US carriers.

The Prime Minister noted that along with his accomplishments, Quigley is also known for his energy and values. These will be crucial as he builds this fundamental national infrastructure for this generation and the next.

Quigley commenced his new role immediately, actively involved in the NBN implementation study. His appointment as Executive Chairman provides the authority and direction to maintain the government's momentum on this project.

The government is continuing the process to appoint other directors to the board of the company, and expects to be in a position to make further announcements shortly. It is anticipated that one of those directors will, in time, also be appointed as Non-Executive Chairman, with Quigley continuing as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.