NBN nabs new CTO from Nokia

Author: Chris Duckett / Source: ZDNet

NBN has filled its chief technology officer position, left without a permanent replacement since the departure of Dennis Steiger in May.

Joining the company responsible for rolling out the National Broadband Network across Australia is Ray Owen, who was most recently Nokia managing director for Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania. Prior to Nokia, Owen held a number of roles in Motorola.

“We are delighted to welcome Ray to NBN and look forward to his vast experience in the global telecoms industry in helping us deliver the best possible network for Australians,” NBN chief strategy officer JB Rousselot said. Owen will report to Rousselot.

Nokia Oceania head of corporate affairs Tim Marshall said Owen left on good terms and Nokia wished him well.

“Ray has done an outstanding job as managing director of Nokia’s Oceania business, where he has grown our market presence over the last two and half years and led a very successful integration with the former Alcatel-Lucent organisation,” Marshall said.

“It’s always sad to lose a valuable leader and colleague, but of course we’re very pleased for Ray and the opportunity for him to further his career.”

On the technology front, NBN has recently commenced construction of its fibre-to-the-distribution-point network in Melbourne, and is mulling over whether to launch a third satellite.

Elsewhere, NBN has found itself involved in an ongoing stoush with retailers over the cost of bandwidth on its network.

At the start of this week, NBN CEO Bill Morrow hit out at allegations the connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) charge and use of copper in its Multi-Technology Mix are to blame for Australians seeing unsatisfactory speeds when connected to the network, and instead said it was the result of an NBN “land grab” forcing…

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