ACCC savaged in TPG-Vodafone judgment, page-25

From the sounds of it Teoh is going to aggressively bring 5G into suburban areas where there is FTTN. He wants to take on NBNCO head on. Very interesting read...

Bad copper connections
Thanks to this week's approval from the competition regulator for TPG's $15 billion merger with Vodafone, Teoh is excited about disrupting the mobile market while targeting people dissatisfied with NBN Co's service.In an interview with Chanticleer on Friday, Teoh says the combination of Vodafone's towers and mobile users with TPG's fibre back-haul and small cell network will result in a 5G product with high download speeds.He says it is too early to say what sort of speeds he would be able to offer but the 5G plans would be "excellent compared to NBN".

Teoh says 5G is not necessarily suited for home broadband in densely populated urban areas with high-rise buildings. But in the suburbs where NBN Co is dealing with bad copper connections, it could be a highly competitive alternative.NBN Co's corporate plan had originally envisaged about 20 per cent of households would be mobile only. It is possible 5G will boost this to between 25 per cent and 30 per cent, according to a leading fund manager.

Teoh is confident he can bring his disruptive, consumer-friendly strategies to 5G."We have to speed up the implementation of 5G after being delayed for 18 months by the ACCC," Teoh says."This is very important for the new TPG. The combination of Vodafone's towers and mobile users with our fibre back-haul and our small cell network means we will have and excellent product compared to NBN fixed line."Teoh, who spent Thursday and Friday talking to institutional investors about TPG's latest financial results and its 5G plans, tells Chanticleer he was frustrated that the ACCC had held up the merger with Vodafone for 18 months.

"I think it's important that the new TPG offer better services to the consumer," he says. "We want to bring competitive tension, that is always the drive in our company."In terms of capacity and speed we want to produce a much better product than is offered now by NBN."A fund manager who owns shares in TPG says Teoh has a history of being a little too optimistic about the roll-out of new technologies.

But the fundie says when you match Teoh's vision and enthusiasm with the hard-nosed operating skills of Vodafone's Inaki Berroeta the outcome should be good for investors."I think NBN Co should be worried about 5G because it will mean more households taking a mobile broadband service instead of fixed line," he says.

A spokesperson for NBN says download speeds on all NBN access technologies can be affected by a range of issues that can impact a customer’s broadband performance."These can range from faulty wiring within the premises, distance from their wireless router, the type and age of the modem they are using, through to how the retailer designs its network," the spokesperson says.