Nbn Co, the broadband initiative backed by the Australian government, said CEO Bill Morrow has informed the board and the government of his intention to step down by the end of 2018.
Morrow didn’t get into specifics on the reason for his planned exit, but he’ll have led Nbn for four years and nine months if he stays through the end of the year.
“I believe that as the company prepares to confront the new challenges ahead, this is the right time to hand over the reins for the next phase of this incredible project and for me to plan for the next step in my career,” Morrow said in a statement.
“The country has been fortunate to have Bill lead this extraordinary project. While we will be sorry to see him leave, Bill has built a resilient, performance-driven organisation which will build on his legacy, added Nbn chairman Dr. Ziggy Switkowski.
Nbn, which has started a global search for Morrow’s successor, claimed that its rollout is “proceeding at pace, and expects the project to be completed in 2020 – “on time, on budget.”
The current goal is to connect 8 million homes and businesses by 2020. Nbn said it expects to end the year with 80% of the population able to connect to its national broadband network, which is using a variety of access technologies, including FTTP, fiber-to-the-node/basement/curb, hybrid fiber/coax (HFC), fixed wireless and satellite broadband.
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Earlier this year, Nbn reportedly pushed back its HFC timetable, suspending new HFC broadband connections in December, with some premises moving from HFC to fiber. In February, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Nbn cable network had just 410,000 active premises, with Nbn clarifying that it would serve “up to” 3 million premises with HFC.
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Nbn currently expects to start reselling HFC services in late April, with volumes ramping up from July onwards.
