It can also be revealed NBN Co spent $265,000 on entertainment and function expenses between February and June at the height of the coronavirus pandemic this year when millions of Australians were unable to travel,socialise in groups or go to restaurants and cafes.
The NBN Co was given an extra $4.5 billion in the federal budget on Tuesday for an upgrade by 2023 to improve the speeds available. Another $29.2 million was provided to accelerate the rollout of ultra-fast 5G mobile networks.
New figures,provided to a Senate committee,show that as of September 9 this year 4859 of its 6300 employees were paid in excess of $100,000 a year,including 733 workers on salaries worth between $200,000 and $300,000.
An NBN Co spokesman said staff were employed under individually negotiated contracts,enterprise agreements and other commercial arrangements.
"In order to remain competitive and attract and retain critical talent to the organisation,NBN Co benchmarks senior executive remuneration against other telecommunications companies,although the remuneration ... is more aligned to the more modest ratio of comparable government business enterprises,rather than that of listed entities,"he said.
The spokesman said the network and its employees were also accountable for corporate expenses and"aware of our corporate expense policies".
He said this budget includes community engagement functions,which were maintained during the pandemic,as well as hotels and food for staff on business trips.