THE NEWS WRAP: NBN looks at leasebacks as cost-saving measure

NBN Co chief executive Bill Morrow has revealed he is open to leaseback facilities, and while he does not aim to offshore more jobs, is not opposed to the possibility.

In an interview, Morrow told Fairfax selling off assets such as mobile phone towers or satellites and then leasing them back was one way the NBN could cut its costs.

“[Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull] has even said that at some point we’ll look at whether or not it goes from public hands back to private. In a way [leaseback facilities] are a form of it,” Morrow said.

“I have a long list of operational reviews that I’m going to go through the company [with] that will take a number of weeks to get through and I may conclude there are other areas where we can be more efficient … by doing stuff out of the box.”

iiNet adds online and telecommunications veterans to board

iiNet has announced it is adding two industry veterans to its board, following the resignation of founder and former chief executive Michael Malone.

The ISP announced SingTel-Optus chief financial officer Patrick O’Sullivan, who is also a director of CarSales and chairman of Telstra joint venture HealthEngine, is joining its board of directors.

O’Sullivan will be joined on the board by Trade Me and Cirrus Media director Paul McCarney.

VMWare revenue up on cloud demand growth

Virtual machine software developer VMWare has announced a 14% increase in first-quarter revenues amidst growing demand for cloud-based services.

The company reported a quarterly net income of $US199 million for the quarter, up from $US173 million for the same quarter a year ago.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up to 16514.4. The Aussie dollar is down to US93.68 cents.