If you're wondering where former Alcatel-Lucent executive star Mike Quigley is after being passed over to replace the ousted Pat Russo, look no further than Australia's National Broadband Network (NBNCo). Australia's government has named Quigley as the new venture's chairman. In his new role, Quigley will oversee the NBN Implementation Study and its ambitious plan to build a $35.3 billion Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) project in the country. Quigley is best known as a member of Alcatel's and later Alcatel-Lucent's executive team, rising to COO prior to his retirement in 2007.
Australia's proposed NBN plan, however, has been shrouded in controversy. Last December the Australian government deemed that the country's incumbent operator Telstra was unqualified to participate in the NBN initiative. The Australian government's hope is that Quigley, a 36-year telecom industry veteran that helped guide Alcatel-Lucent to win major telecom FTTP deals, can bring some sanity to the NBN process.
In a press release announcing Quigley's appointment, the Australian government said: "Few people in the world have first-hand experience with the deployment of the type of network our National Broadband Network plan involves. Mike is one of those people. He understands the technology, the applications, and all of the considerations that go into making a network viable."
For more:
- Here's the official release
- Light Reading has this analysis
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