NBN Co names new COO

The global search for the National Broadband Network Company's new chief operating officer has come to a close, with a suitable candidate found and installed into the outfit to spearhead the construction and roll-out of the country's new fibre backbone.

Following a report in the Australian Financial Review this morning, ZDNet Australia has confirmed that NBN Co had appointed Ralph Steffens to take up the COO position within the company after a search taking just under four months.

Steffens comes into NBN Co after four years of managing service delivery for peak European carrier British Telecom (BT). According to his LinkedIn profile, Steffens spent eight years with BT and also worked with the company as a senior director of UK network solutions.

The COO role was created in late-August as part of a shake-up of NBN Co's management structure. NBN Co said at the time that the new role would report directly to Mike Quigley, CEO of NBN Co, and manage construction, deployment planning, IT and network operations.

NBN Co said that the restructure marked its transition from a start-up-like company planning a network deployment, to a business in full swing undertaking a broad network roll-out.

The aforementioned restructure also saw the appointment of a new head of quality control, an expanded sales and pricing head, as well as costing the company its chief financial officer Jean-Pascal Beaufret.

NBN Co is expected to release a statement on Steffens' appointment later this morning.