Vocus revives CTO role, brings in ex-Telstra networks exec

Vocus has revived its chief technology officer role after nine years and brought in a former Telstra networks and technology group executive to fill it from July.

The telco has announced Nikos Katinakis as its next CTO, poaching him from North American network builder Zayo Group.

iTnews understands the CTO role will absorb responsibilities that previously fell to chief operating officer Jarrod Nink, who left in December last year, but will also be larger in scope, focusing on the build, delivery and operation of Vocus’ networks.

The CTO role is considered to be at a peer level with current Vocus chief information officer Rob Ison.

One month ago, Vocus' current chief customer officer was using the title of interim chief network officer in an online webinar promoting Project Horizon – its new 2000 kilometre high-resilience fibre link connecting Geraldton and Port Hedland through the Pilbara.

Katinakis joins Vocus at a time when it is under pressure to demonstrate the value of its $5.25 billion investment in TPG Telecom’s fibre and fixed network assets, which it acquired late in 2024.

The network builder is betting that the sharp rise in global demand for data centre capacity and connectivity driven by adoption of artificial intelligence technology will help it to secure returns on the acquisition.

“AI is fundamentally raising the bar for what fibre networks must deliver for customers in terms of design, capacity, reliability, and latency. Vocus uniquely possesses the foundation and expertise needed to build and deliver the next-generation digital infrastructure customers will need to compete in an AI-driven economy,” Katinakis said.

He said that his priority would be accelerating network builds and making the company’s networks more reliable.

“The combination of digital infrastructure excellence and customer experience will be a powerful differentiator for Vocus,” he said.

The network that Vocus acquired from TPG Telecom is stitched from a mix of assets Pipe Networks and its rival AAPT built before their acquisitions in 2010 and 2015 respectively.

The transaction nearly doubled the size of Vocus' network footprint, giving it access to metro markets where data centre builds have concentrated and sees it take control of TPG Telecom’s fixed line enterprise, government and wholesale business.

Vocus is also one of Australia’s largest builders of satellite ground stations, all of which need large amounts of backhaul to carry traffic destined for urban backbone networks.