finally discovered why TPM did so well

TPM SP currently about 105x its GFC low!!no other stk can come close. We all know TLS rested on its laurels while smaller telcos went out and out marketed TLS and Optus and no one did it better than TPM. I've written a speil on VOC therad why the MTU/VOC merger had to be done ASAP as dorr now effectively shut on bigger players combining. So they seized the opportunity and it seems a win-win deal.

But I've never understood why TPM was able to outshine all its competitors. Its not the cheapest, doesn't have the best service (that was iiNet) etc. But read one sentence on weekend and the penny dropped. its such an obvious simple strategy and i reckon its gained TPM 300-500,000 new customers over past 8 yrs. This is apart from normal organic growth. And it cost TPM very little! They barely had to mkt it! Yet it seems none of their competitors followed suit. Rusted-on holders and TPM customers know what i'm referring to and they can explain it better than me. But the strategy, although still valid, is now gaining far fewer new customers than previously and this trend will slow even further.

TPM CEO knows this, hence he was willing to pay 30x earnings for iiNet as he knows large client base (scale) is key in Telco business. I see SP easing as mkt realises the big consolidations are effectively over. I notice thet between them VOC and MTU is the combination of 40 smaller telco companies! Sure says something.

So from here it will be a fierce co petition to retain customers and price along with service will be main drivers. Organic growth will slow substantially including in corporate space. That's my take anyway. dyor.

But hats off to TPM for pinching 400k+ customers from under Telstra's and Optus big noses.