Vocus has appointed Nikos Katinakis as its new chief technology officer, effective 1 July 2026. Katinakis brings more than three decades of experience leading network and technology organisations across four continents. He joins from Zayo Group, where he served as CTO of the largest independent fibre-optic network builder and operator in North America.
Before Zayo, he held the position of group executive for Global Networks and Technology at Telstra, overseeing wireless, fixed, transport and international networks alongside IT, cloud, data, AI and cybersecurity functions.
His CV also includes senior roles at Reliance Jio in India, Rogers Communications in Canada, and Ericsson across Sweden and Canada.
In a post shared on LinkedIn following the announcement, Katinakis made clear he sees the timing of his appointment as significant. “I am convinced that Vocus has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be at the centre of the digital infrastructure tailwinds sweeping the globe, including Australia, a market I know well,” he wrote.
Katinakis is direct about what this means for network operators. “AI is fundamentally raising the bar for what fibre networks must deliver for customers in terms of design, capacity, reliability, and latency,” he said. “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.”
Vocus CEO Andrés Irlando, who worked with Katinakis at Zayo, was candid about what the hire represents for the business. “Nikos has spent his career building and operating fibre networks at scale in the world’s most demanding markets, including North America where AI is driving exponential growth in digital infrastructure demand,” Irlando said. “I am confident he will be a game changer for Vocus, and our digital infrastructure strategy.”
In his new role, Katinakis will oversee network, security, customer operations and work health and safety at Vocus. He will be responsible for evolving and scaling the company’s subsea, inter-capital and metro fibre networks, and for building out intelligent automation across its operations.
Critically, Katinakis has flagged customer experience as a core priority alongside raw infrastructure delivery. “Among my priorities at Vocus will be elevating the customer experience end-to-end, making networks easier to order, faster to deploy, and more reliable to operate and support,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “The combination of digital infrastructure excellence and customer experience will be a powerful differentiator for Vocus.”
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