NewsBite

Stephen Rue

November 2024

Former NBN boss Stephen Rue has taken the reins at Optus.

New Optus boss promises company ‘reset’ after horror two years

The incoming CEO says he will draw on a decade of experience at the national broadband network to focus on customer service amid tight household budgets.

  • Jenny Wiggins and Paul Smith

May 2024

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue is a known quantity; that’s important for his new employer Optus.

Fresh meat in the Optus sandwich promised a helping hand

Optus and its owner, Singtel, have made governance changes to try to make the incoming CEO’s job easier. We’ll wait to see the proof.

  • Anthony Macdonald

November 2023

Public servant millionaires: NBN Co’s Stephen Rue, AustraliaPost’s Paul Graham and Western Sydney Airport’s Simon Hickey.

These 32 public servants earn more than $1m

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has warned the boards of government-owned businesses they must show restraint on pay and bonuses, amid a new round of high salaries.

  • Updated
  • Michael Read and Tom McIlroy

May 2023

Mr Rue said NBN Co had already made “significant concessions” throughout the process, which started in 2021.

NBN boss defiant on price rises

The ACCC found that NBN’s proposed increase in access charges on the standard 50Mbps wholesale service is reasonable, Stephen Rue told a telecoms conference.

  • Lucas Baird

March 2023

NBN Co has written off $31 billion of costs.

Internet providers hope NBN job cuts signal pricing rethink

Retailers say the NBN may revisit its controversial pricing proposal to more effectively compete against alternatives after cutting one in 10 jobs this week.

  • Lucas Baird
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NBN Co has vacated several floors of its Mount Street offices.

NBN Co braces for sweeping job cuts

The broadband network operator has informed staff this afternoon that it will cut up to 500 jobs from its 4650-strong workforce.

  • Lucas Baird

December 2022

NBN Co has written off $31 billion of costs.

NBN writes off recovering $31b invested to build network

The government-owned company said it would no longer seek to recover the full $44 billion sunk into the initial build and would only claw back $12.5 billion.

  • Lucas Baird

September 2022

The NBN was functionally complete last year.

NBN’s Brad Whitcomb switches sides

The outgoing NBN Co chief customer officer must be sick of playing the bad guy.

  • Lucas Baird

August 2022

Cost relief on the way as NBN offers cheaper internet

Businesses and consumers could soon start paying less for internet as the NBN looks to dump capacity charges and drop the prices of its fastest plans.

  • Updated
  • Lucas Baird and John Kehoe
NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue is letting the numbers do the talking.

NBN’s chance to rethink its strategy

NBN Co has published 2022 financial results showing a surge in cash flow and EBITDA. But its closely watched revenue per user is going nowhere, and that presents an opportunity for CEO Stephen Rue.

  • Tony Boyd
NBN Co’s revenue rose 10 per cent to $5.1 billion, while EBITDA more than doubled in the 2021 financial year to $3.1 billion.

NBN argues for pricing ‘balance’, analysts tip price rises

NBN Co boss Stephen Rue has poured cold water on suggestions his revamped pricing proposal will be radically different to an earlier submission to regulators.

  • Lucas Baird

July 2022

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland looks to have buried NBN Co’s privatisation plans.

Minister’s sensible reset of NBN economics

Investment bankers hoping for a multibillion dollar privatisation of NBN Co will be disappointed with Michelle Rowland’s first major move as communications minister.

  • Tony Boyd

September 2021

An NBN Co spokesman said its total support for the industry during the pandemic had seen it lose $100 million of revenue and potential network reinvestment.

Telcos say NBN ‘profiteering’ with slack lockdown relief

The CEOS of major internet providers say the current relief system fails to appropriately offset the increased data demand during lockdowns or provide cost certainty.

  • Lucas Baird

August 2021

NBN Co wheels back forecast period

NBN Co will no longer issue multi-year financial forecasts in its annual corporate plan, fearing litigation from private lenders if it misses its targets.

  • Lucas Baird
NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue is looking forward to NBN being cash-flow positive.

NBN turns opaque on financial disclosure

NBN is increasingly restricting the amount of financial information it shares with the public and this raises questions about the efficiency of its operating and capital expenditure.

  • Tony Boyd
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Chief executive Stephen Rue said NBN Co continued to help customers and the industry during the year via a range of COVID-19 support measures.

Stalled NBN Co revenue per user threatens budget

While the company lifted revenue, a sharp rise in connected premises chewed into the key per user metric better known as ARPU.

  • Updated
  • Lucas Baird

May 2021

NBN Co says 11.9 million premises are ready to connect to the network, just short of its 12 million target for FY21.

NBN Co on track to hit FY21 targets

NBN Co posted $3.5 billion of revenue in the nine months to the end of March – a more than 20 per cent surge on the prior corresponding period.

  • Lucas Baird

March 2021

Telstra will have to go further to buy NBN

‘To contemplate a business combination with NBN at a future point in time, it would probably require a more substantive delinking of InfraCo Fixed and the Telstra Group.’

  • Updated
  • Lucas Baird

February 2021

NBN Co CEO Stephen Rue and Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts Paul Fletcher.

‘Outrageous’: NBN Co on notice over $80m in bonuses

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher’s office contacted the government-owned telco over the 2020 payments on Thursday.

  • Tom McIlroy
NBN Co boss Stephen Rue is one of the highest paid employees of a government-owned business.

NBN Co paid staff almost $80m in bonuses in 2020

Labor has slammed the company building the national broadband network over lavish bonuses and called on the Morrison government to explain.

  • Tom McIlroy

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/stephen-philip-rue-5gj