The man tasked with launching the National Broadband Network is stepping down. NBN Co. chief Mike Quigley has announced he is retiring from the company and corporate life.

After four years in the firing line as the head of a project that has had its share of criticism, Quigley says he has done what he was there to do.

“My job was to lay the foundations for the NBN for the next 30 years,” Quigley said, “that job is largely complete. NBN Co is now a well-established wholesale telecommunications company with a nationwide workforce, delivery partners, infrastructure agreements, complex IT systems and more than 40 retail customers which are supplying fast, reliable and affordable broadband to a growing number of Australians.”

Insiders say if the Coalition won the next election Mr Quigley would have been ousted anyway; senior Coalition figures such as Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull have publicly stated that they believed NBN Co was being mismanaged, or managed by the wrong executive team.

The outgoing CEO says his replacement will have to take to project into its next phase. Quigley said “it is now critical that we further strengthen our partnerships across the construction and telecommunications industries, as we escalate the build of the network and work closely with our retail customers to ensure a smooth migration of families and businesses to the NBN.”

Communications Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Penny Wong have also issued a statement thanking Quigley for his work at NBN Co; “Mr Quigley was the first employee of NBN Co and has overseen its development from the very beginning... Mr Quigley came out of retirement to head NBN Co. He was eager to join the project because he understood the importance of nation-building infrastructure that is essential for our nation’s economic future.”

Quigley says he will now revive retirement plans he put on hold when he took the job four years ago.