I wasn't pushed, says NBN chief executive Mike Quigley after announcing his departure Outgoing NBN boss Mike Quigley. National Broadband Network CEO Mike Quigley. OUTGOING NBN Co chief Mike Quigley insists he was not pushed out of his job by an unhappy board, saying delays in the government's controversial $37.4 billion project were simply down to teething problems. Mr Quigley yesterday announced his retirement and said it was the "right time" to move on from the company he had been with for the past four years. However, the man responsible for rolling out Labor's National Broadband Network dodged questions on whether or not NBN Co chairman Siobhan McKenna had begun headhunting for his replacement, before he raised the issue of moving on. "Some of those questions you should direct to Siobhan," Mr Quigley said on a teleconference with journalists. But I would say that it is not at all surprising for a board to do the sensible thing and start to think about succession timing. Tension between Mr Quigley and Ms McKenna was said to be at breaking point but the CEO insisted they had a good working relationship. "I've got a very good relationship with Siobhan - she and I speak on a regular basis," he said. I've been in the company for as long as I expected to ... this is the right time in the phasing of the project to move on. In a statement Ms McKenna paid tribute to Mr Quigley. "NBN Co has been fortunate to have Mike as Chief Executive over the past four years," she said. Mr Quigley said he would remain with the company, which has been mired in controversy, including asbestos in Telstra pits and delays, until they found a replacement. He said the foundations had been laid for the high-speed NBN for the next 30 years and staunchly defended the project. There aren't any cost blowouts. Some of the costs increased from our original December plan but our shareholders asked us to do different things," Mr Quigley said. Is it true that the project is running a bit late but we are doing our best to recover from that. I don't see anything that would prevent the company from finishing when we expect it to finish which is in the middle of 2021. Mr Quigley, 60, was appointed to head up NBN Co in 2009 and donated his entire first year's pay cheque of $2 million to charity. He was lured out of retirement to take the role and received a salary of $1.9 million in the 2012 financial year. Mr Quigley said whoever his replacement was they needed to have a good relationship with government and praised former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy for the work they were able to achieve together. He said opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull had also done a stellar job in developing a "thorough" plan for his fibre-to-the-node broadband network. In a joint statement Broadband Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minister Penny Wong said Mr Quigley was instrumental in negotiating the deal with Telstra which has paved the way for the NBN rollout. They said he also successfully managed the switching on of fibre, fixed wireless and satellite connections right across the country. Mr Turnbull, who has been critical of Mr Quigley in the past, suggested he'd been removed from his post.