Vocus Group boss Ellie Sweeney has been appointed as CEO at Australia’s National Broadband Network. Sweeney’s departure from Vocus comes a little over a year after she was appointed to replace Kevin Russell at Vocus.
Sweeney has more than 20 years of executive experience in the telecommunications sector, including over 10 years at Telstra.
At NBN Co, Sweeney will replace Stephen Rue who is departing to take charge at Optus in November.
Philip Knox who served as interim CEO at NBN since Rue announced his departure in May, will return to the role of chief financial officer at NBN once Sweeney takes charge at NBN.
NBN is building, operating and upgrading the national broadband network, and Sweeney’s five-year term there commences this December.
Her role at NBN will reunite her with Russell who after leaving Vocus in February 2023 has been a non-executive director on NBN’s eight-member board since April.
NBN which offers connections to 8.6 million homes and businesses, remains loss-making. Its net annual loss increased to $1.18 billion in the 12 months to June 30 from $1.12 billion a year earlier.
The loss occurred despite a 4 per cent rise in total revenue, which reached $5.5 billion and a 9 per cent increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to $3.93 billion.
One of the major focus areas at NBN has been its fibre upgrade program, which aims to transition customers from older technologies like Fibre to the Node (FTTN) and Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) to Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).
As of June 2024, NBN upgraded 375,000 premises, with 269,000 of those upgrades occurring in the last financial year alone.
NBN expects that by the end of 2025, 90 per cent of its fixed footprint will be capable of delivering near-gigabit speeds, with 99 per cent of the network offering speeds of at least 50Mbps.
“Sweeney’s appointment comes at an important time for NBN Co to maximise the benefits of the National Broadband Network for all Australians. Our goal is to narrow the digital divide across Australian communities, and ensure we have world-class digital infrastructure to support a Future Made in Australia,” said Michelle Rowland Minister for Communications.
