Tasmanian NBN Co board appointed

Three new directors have joined current executive chairman Doug Campbell on the board of the Tasmanian National Broadband Network Company (TNBN Co), but none are from TNBN Co's joint owner, Aurora Energy.

Joining Campbell are Alison Terry, (Mr) Jody Fassina and Greg McCann. Campbell will be executive chairman of TNBN Co, according to a joint statement by Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy and Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett.

Besides McCann, none of the new members hold current positions with companies in either the telecommunications or information technology industries.

McCann holds a non-executive chairman position at MOKO.mobi, a teen-focused web chat room and dating service. He has a similar role at Tel.Pacific, which provides prepaid telephony products, and he is the managing director of Sydney-based IT services and distribution company, Excentor Group.

A spokesperson for Conroy said that all the Tasmanian NBN Co Limited board directors had signed personal interest declarations that have been assessed by the Commonwealth, in response to a question from ZDNet.com.au on whether McCann's positions created a conflict of interest with his future NBN work.

Alison Terry holds board positions with AustralianSuper, Centre for Adult Education, and Chifley Business School. She is a former executive director of corporate affairs at GM Holden.

Fassina, a former public affairs manager at Macquarie Bank, is a director of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition and Trust. The media statement said he had a background in advising on banking, finance and taxation services.

A report in Crikey claims that Fassina once worked for Peter Cook, a senior minister in the Hawke and Keating ALP administrations, who passed away in 2005. The same report claimed Fassina had existing links with Conroy.

"These appointments provide TNBN Co with a wealth of expertise and experience to undertake this landmark project for the state of Tasmania," said Conroy.

"The appointment of the board shows that behind the scenes we are continuing to progress the roll out of what will be the most significant infrastructure project of the 21st century," Bartlett said.

Three more board members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Campbell told ZDNet.com.au earlier this week that a tender for optical transmission equipment should be released within the coming four weeks. Conroy has also said that trench-digging for the NBN in Tasmania would begin in October.