News that the CEO of the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN), Mr Mike Quigley, has announced his retirement naturally raises some suspicions regarding, whether after four years in the hot seat, he jumped or was pushed out. It is certainly an odd time to retire given the that the roll out is a long way from completion, and is not at a juncture that lends itself to a smooth transition of CEOs.
On top of the political jostling between the Coalition and Labor parties over the structure of Australia's future broadband infrastructure, the NBN has also been plague by issues surrounding its roll out. These issues include the recent discovery of asbestos in Telstra's (ASX: TLS) ducts and issues regarding delays to the roll out timetable.
The most notable casualty from the roll out has been contractor Service Stream (ASX SSM). Service Stream has been forced into a trading halt since late May after its Syntheo joint venture (JV) was forced to hand back the remainder of its design and construction work in the NT. Syntheo was formed as a JV between Service Stream and Lend Lease (ASX: LLC) for the provision of services to the NBN. Syntheo won contracts potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to undertake NBN related work in the Northern Territory, WA and SA, however, those contracts now appear to be up in the air with shareholders eagerly awaiting further news.
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Motley Fool contributor Tim McArthur does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
