NBN Co Limited

Company type	State-owned enterprise
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	April 2009 (2009-04)
Headquarters	Melbourne[1] , Australia
Key people	Stephen Rue, CEO Kate McKenzie, Chair/Non-Executive Director
Services	Wholesale data network
Revenue	A$5.3 billion (2023)[2]
Operating income	A$133 million (2023)[2]
Net income	A$−1.1 billion (2023)[2]
Total assets	A$37.94 billion (2023)[2]
Owner	Australian Government
Number of employees	4,690 (2023)[2]
Website	nbnco.com.au

NBN Co Limited, known as simply nbn, is a publicly owned corporation of the Australian Government, tasked to design, build and operate Australia's National Broadband Network as the nation's wholesale broadband provider. The corporation reports to two shareholder ministers: the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Communications.^[3]

History

NBN Co was established on 9 April 2009 under the name of its company number, "A.C.N. 136 533 741 Limited".^[4] After the establishment, the Australian Government started referring to the company as "National Broadband Network Company",^[5] which became the de facto company name. It was officially named "NBN Co Limited" on 6 October 2009.^[6][7][8][9] It traded as "NBN Co" until 26 April 2015 when it began trading simply as "nbn".^[10]

In 2019, NBN Co announced that by May 2020^[11] retail service providers will be able to pool all their connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) bandwidth nationally.

In February 2020, the company announced that 6.7 million homes and businesses were connected to a plan over the nbn access network – compared with 4.9 million in February 2019.^[12]

NBN Co developed a satellite internet program named Sky Muster aimed at rural areas. As of July 2023, $620 million had been invested.^[13] However, the program experienced fierce competition from Starlink satellites. Sky Muster consists of two geosynchronous satellites orbiting over 35,000 km above Earth's surface, resulting in latency times around 600 ms (at 25 Mbps), compared to Starlink's latency of below 40 ms (for 100-200 Mbps).^[14]

NBN and retail service providers

As a wholesale provider of broadband access through its level two networks, NBN provides broadband access predominantly to retail service providers (RSPs); these businesses on sell access to end users; both residential and business customers to access the internet.

At 30 June 2016, Telstra had 45.5%, TPG group had 24.8% and Optus had 12.4% of all end users connecting to the NBN.^[15]

There has been a significant failure of the NBN to deliver nominal performance to end users. There has been contention between RSPs and NBN on the reasons for this. Bill Morrow, then CEO of NBN, admitted in 2017 that 15% of end users received a poor service through the NBN and were 'seriously dissatisfied'.^[16] In addition, Morrow indicated that, at July 2017, prices and performance for end users were suppressed through a 'price war' between RSPs.^[17][18]

Contractual arrangements

NBN contracts mainly with RSPs to provide wholesale broadband access, with limited supply of backhaul to other organisations (for example providing backhaul services to Vodafone).^[19]

National Broadband Network

Under the Rudd and Gillard governments' NBN Co corporate plan, it was estimated that the NBN construction would require A$27.5 billion in government equity and raise an estimated A$13.4 billion in debt funding without government support; a total funding requirement of A$40.9 billion up to FY2021. Financial forecasts for NBN Co assuming a 7% internal rate of return (IRR) expect the government and debt equity will be fully repaid including accrued interest by FY2040.^[20] Following the election of the Abbott government, NBN Co reassessed financial forecasts and progress of the NBN roll-out and published a strategic review in December 2013.

In response to what the Abbott and Turnbull governments stated to be excessive performance specifications and costs they moved from a model which previously focused on FTTP (fibre to the premises) to a multi-technology mix^[21] model using FTTx, including FTTP, FTTN (fibre to the node), FTTB (fibre to the building or basement) and most recently FTTdp (fibre to the distribution point); and HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial) in metropolitan areas. Regional and remote areas were mainly unchanged as a result of the strategic review and typically receive a service using either fixed wireless, using LTE technology, or satellite.

The NBN network, at 2022, draws together wired communication (copper, optical and hybrid fibre-coaxial) and radio communication (satellite and fixed wireless networks) at 121 points of interconnect typically located in Telstra owned telephone exchanges throughout Australia. It also sells access for mobile telecommunication backhaul to mobile telecommunications providers.^[19]

In February 2017, Bill Morrow (former CEO) stated that there is no significant demand for wired connections above 25 Mbit/s and consideration of upgrading the network will not be undertaken until demand for high-bandwidth services is proven.^[22]

In August 2019, Stephen Rue (CEO), announced the completion of the $51 billion National Broadband Network by June 2020.^[23] However, some service areas were still being rolled out in late 2020/2021 with FTTP to FTTN/FTTC premises.

Corporate structure

Below is the management structure of NBN Co at 30 September 2022^[24]

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Rue
${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$	${\displaystyle \downarrow }$
Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer Jane van Beelen	Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer Will Irving	Chief Customer Officer Gavin Williams	Chief Development Officer – Regional and Remote Gavin Williams	Chief People & Culture Officer Sally Kincaid	Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Felicity Ross	Chief Engineering Officer John Parkin	Chief Operating Officer Kathrine Dyer	Chief Financial Officer Philip Knox[25]	Acting Chief Information Officer Crispin Blackall

Board

• Kate McKenzie – Chair^[26]
• Stephen Rue – Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer from 18 September 2018 (Chief Financial Officer from July 2014 until appointment as MD)^[27]
• Drew Clarke – Non-executive director (from 22 August 2017 for a three-year term)^[28]
• Pam Bains – Non-executive director^[29]
• Nerida Caesar – Non-executive director^[30]
• Michael Malone – Non-executive director (from 20 April 2016)^[31]
• Andrew Dix – Non-executive director^[32]
• Nicole Lockwood – Non-executive director^[33]
• Elisha Parker – Non-executive director^[34]

Former directors

• Bill Morrow – Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer to 18 September 2018^[35]
• Mike Quigley – Interim Chairman and a director of NBN Co 24 July 2009 – 15 March 2010, Director 15 March 2010 – 3 October 2013.^[36]
• Simon Hackett – Non-executive director^[37]
• Alison Lansley – Non-executive director^[38][39]
• Shirley In't Veld – Non-executive director^[40]
• Zoe McKenzie – Non-executive director^[41]
• Dr Kerry Schott AO – Non-executive director^[42]

Employees

At the end of June 2022, NBN Co had more than 4,600 employees.^[43]

By December 2018 the company had 6,850 employees and temporary staff.^[44]

At 30 June 2021, the company had 6,200 employees and contractors.^[45] One year later in June 2022, its workforce had declined to 4,951.^[46]