Two charismatic gentlemen: Minister Paul Fletcher and NBN CEO Stephen Rue Image: Chris Duckett/ZDNet Australia's Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts Paul Fletcher has formally declared that the National Broadband Network (NBN) is "built and fully operational", as one of the first steps towards the eventual sale of the company responsible for the roll out of the NBN. On Wednesday, Fletcher made the declaration after reviewing a report from NBN on the extent to which the NBN access network is built and fully operational. "In my view, the evidence before me shows it is appropriate to make the declaration that the NBN should be treated as built and fully operational," he said on Wednesday.