Really,this is all history,but vodafone had the opportunity to buy their allocation of 700 in original 700 auction at reserve price.Those chose not to invest. In last auction,as posted they bought 10 lots of 700 ,which is half that 700 optus has.But we should understand the entire 30 lots was vodafones allocation in original 700 auction at reserve price but vodafone refused to buy it,if fact they asked acma if they could pay less than reserve,obviously tls and optus objected to acma. They had opportunities to buy 3.6ghz,i believe they did buy some . TPG also has some 3.6ghz. tpg has also rolled out a inferior 4g network in singapore,showing their intentions imo.. As u suggest tpg has spent well over $1.6b including including 700 plus singapore ,including huawei negotiations,small cell research etc etc. Then finally reality strikes of the cost required to roll out a mobile network in australia (maybe some experience gained from their roll out in singapore) combined with the accc decision not to declare the tls/optus mobile regional investments and now in court they first try and blame the ban on hauwei,when that didn't work teoh said 'actually we were not serious about rolling out a mobile network in australia ,we just 'gambled' on a $1.6b spectrum purchase to encourage vodafone to merge.Thats funny.as posted vodafone had many opportunities to buy spectrum but as posted they have no interest in investing in australia and were only forced to after vodafail. So even before tpg spent one $1 on spectrum,they had plenty to attract vodafone to develop some type of merger and the accc would have embraced this.ie tpg's 26% fixed market share,tpg's vodafone reseller customer base and obvious mobile fixed infrastructure. As posted ,imo tpg should have spoken to vodafone and for example started with ,thats started with suggesting they have $1.6b (spectrum money) plus above fixed customer base etc to bring to the table in a merger.imo with out doubt vodafone would have jumped at the offer as they have proven they have no interest in investing in their australian network or the australian market,and lets not forget vodafone would b losing big money as they enter nbn as its very expensive unless u have scale,but again vodafone refuses to acquire/invest in smaller struggling nbn resellers. Thats funny quoting what is said in court,no different to the majority of defendants saying i'm innocent yr honor ,when in fact most r guilty. ps as posted i suspect sanity will prevail ? and the merger will b approved.
TPM Price at posting:
$6.66 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held