Top 100 Influencers: Conroy ranked 31 with a bullet

James Riley
Friday, 23 October 2009 09:20

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

It is the sort of survey that drives people crazy and it will probably make Nick Minchin break out in a rash, but Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has been named as one of the global telecom sector's Top 100 most influential people.

Senator Conroy is ranked at 31 on the list, and whether by coincidence or by design, Telstra chief David Thodey is ranked almost equally at 33rd.

If the Minister's ego still needs topping up after that news, he'll be satisfied that only European Union telecom commissioner Viviane Reding ranks higher as a public official. And he more influential on the global comms sector than Cisco chief John Chambers, HP chairman Mark Hurd and Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, among a host of other luminaries.

The Power 100, by UK-based trade magazine Global Telecoms Business, says the Senator's NBN is the first in the world to link all citizens to ubiquitous broadband, and at A$43 billion is gigantic – even given Australia's smallish population.

The man who gets to sign the cheques that will total up to $43 billion – NBN Co executive chair Mike Quigley – ranks at number 49.

"He's only just starting in the job," reads Quigley’s entry in the Power 100, "but Australia's bold strategy is unmatched in any other developed country and Quigley’s success or failure in the role will be watched closely by the industry and by governments around the world, from the US to India."

It is an interesting aside that the two men – Conroy and Thodey – who effectively lead opposite sides of the negotiation over the shape and cost of Australia’s telecommunications future are ranked so close.

And it demonstrates just how closely watched the Australian market is right now. Thodey took to the helm at Telstra just as it started its complicated and emotionally engaged discussions with Government.

Thodey's job has been described as the toughest gig in corporate Australia. As Global Telecom Business notes, he took over in the penultimate year of an enormous transformation program that has delivered excellent mobile technology and a fixed IP network – but had to move immediately into a period that may see the company changed even more.

Still it's got to be satisfying though, shaping an industry in a market the rest of the world is watching (if satisfied is what you're looking for).

The Power 100 list doesn't mean much, of course. But it is certainly an indicator of how closely the NBN project is being watched, not least because of its scale and ambition.