NBN Company: Industry welcomes business heavyweights

James Riley
Thursday, 06 August 2009 12:18

Business IT - Technology

Industry analysts have welcomed the NBN Company board appointments as a good mix of communications, finance and general business expertise, although shadow minister Nick Minchin says it lacks specific telecommunications experience.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner jointly unveiled five new directors to the NBN Company board, who will join the newly established company’s chairman and chief executive Mike Quigley.

Independent telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said the corporate resumes of the new board team pointed to government’s desire for clear, high-level strategic leadership in the project’s early stages, rather than specific industry expertise.

But Senator Minchin is less convinced, arguing a project of such magnitude demanded more directed expertise.

“We’re probably a little surprised that there aren’t more telecom-focused skills there,” a spokesman from Senator Minchin told iTWire. “Certainly when you’re about to spend $43 billion, you would like to think there was more specific experience.”

Among the five appointees is former Telstra Country Wide managing director Doug Campbell, who brings a 48-year career in the carrier business to the role. Campbell’s particular expertise is in remote and regional communication. He was also appointed last month as chairman of the Tasmanian NBN Company Board.

Other board members include legal giant Freehills’ former chief executive Peter Hay, a company law specialist with particular experience in mergers and acquisitions, and former McKinsey & Company partner Siobhan McKenna, who most recently sat on the Productivity Commission.

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