NBN Co appoints Chief Operating Officer

NBN Co today announced the appointment of senior telecommunications executive Ralph Steffens as its first Chief Operating Officer.

Mr Steffens will have overall responsibility for construction of the National Broadband Network as well as deployment planning, network operations and IT.

He will be based in Sydney and report to CEO Mike Quigley. He formally starts at the end of this month.
Born in Germany, Mr Steffens joins NBN Co from the UK where he was, until recently, Managing Director, Service Delivery, for BT Group plc, the global telecommunications company headquartered in London. Mr Steffens led a team of 4000 people across the globe responsible for the company's multinational corporate customers as well as its international network and infrastructure.

He also presided over two major network rollouts across Europe. At BT he oversaw the upgrade of Britain's broadband infrastructure. Prior to this, at COLT Telecom, he delivered a 15,000km Pan European telecommunications network across 12 countries.

Welcoming Mr Steffens' appointment, NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley said: "As an experienced telecommunications executive who has presided over major network rollouts across Europe, Ralph is ideally suited to the role of overseeing this vital upgrade of Australia's telecommunications infrastructure."

Mr Steffens said: "I'm proud to be joining a visionary project that is the envy of the world. Delivering high speed-broadband to every home and business across a continent the size of Australia represents an enormous challenge but the opportunities it will enable are endless. I'm genuinely excited about the ability to participate in the building of the NBN."

The position of COO is one of a number of new posts announced in August in recognition of the business' transition from being a start-up focused on planning and design to a company capable of delivering the full-scale rollout of the NBN.

Over the next 12 months work is scheduled to begin constructing the network in towns and cities covering around 500,000 homes and businesses across Australia.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Andrew Sholl
Phone: 9927 4420
Mobile: 0448 805 806

Rhonda Griffin
Phone: 02 9927 4015
Mobile: 0428 134 401

Notes to Editors

Ralph Steffens' curriculum vitae

2011 Independent telecommunications consultant, London

2003-2011 BT Group PLC, London

2007-2011 Managing Director, Service Delivery
2005-2007 Senior Director, Network Solutions
2003-2005 Director, 21CN Core Planning and Implementation

1996-2003 COLT TELECOM GMBH, Frankfurt

1999-2003 Director, Technical Services, European Network
1998-1999 Project Manager, Long Distance Network
1996-1998 Product Manager, Data and Voice
1996 System Engineer Transmission

Mr. Steffens is a graduate of Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Darmstadt)

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