TPG mobile customers might be able to use the Optus network in regional Australia next year

Optus and TPG have entered into an agreement that would allow mobile customers on TPG brands - Vodafone, TPG, iiNet, felix, Lebara, and Kogan - to use the Optus network in regional Australia.

As part of the network sharing agreement, TPG would gain access to 2,444 Optus network sites in regional Australia, expanding its 4G coverage to 98.4% of the population. Vodafone's 4G network currently reaches 96% of the population.

In exchange, TPG will license some of its mobile spectrum to Optus to enhance regional connectivity. The telcos say that Optus and TPG mobile customers will have identical network experiences in regional Australia.

The network sharing agreement doesn't extend to metro areas, where each telco will continue to maintain its own network. The agreement has an initial term of 11 years, and TPG has the option to extend it for a further five years.

If the agreement receives regulatory approval, the benefits will be available to regional Optus and TPG mobile customers from early next year.

Telstra and TPG previously entered a network sharing agreement, but this was blocked by the ACCC in late 2022. This decision was upheld by the Australian Competition Tribunal in 2023.

At the time, the ACCC said the deal would entrench Telstra's dominant position in the market.

"Telstra is already the strongest mobile network operator in Australia and has a very high share of regional customers. We consider that the proposed arrangements would lock up valuable spectrum with Telstra, raising barriers to entry and expansion and reducing the incentives and ability of rivals to compete," said ACCC Commissioner Liz Carver.

While the ACCC still has to approve the Optus-TPG deal, the body itself suggested that was a viable alternative when providing preliminary views on the Telstra-TPG deal.

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Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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