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Internet giant TPG secures Australian mobile spectrum, plans new network

Xinhua, April 12, 2017 Adjust font size:

Australian internet and telecommunications giant TPG Telecom announced Wednesday it has secured a mobile spectrum band for 1.26 billion Australian dollars (944.8 million U.S. dollars) and will commence building a new mobile network in Australia.

The new network, pegged to cost the telco giant in the region of 1.9 billion Australian dollars, will operate on the 700 mega hertz band they secured at auction.

David Teoh, founder and chief executive of TPG, said in a statement obtained by Xinhua that the company's success in acquiring the billion-dollar spectrum was a tremendous development and will ensure that TPG is a major player in the burgeoning mobile space in Australia.

"We are uniquely positioned to leverage our success in the Australian fixed-line broadband market to drive the next phase of growth for TPG's shareholders and bring new competition to the Australian mobile market," Teoh said.

The spectrum auction process itself excluded major Australian player Telstra, which suffered an early hit in their share value Wednesday morning, down 5.92 percent at 1032 local time AEST.

Another major competitor Vodafone also purchased some associated mobile spectrum in the bidding, for 286 million Australian dollars.

As of December 2016, Telstra still enjoyed the largest market share in the Australian mobile market, with 17.4 million subscribers, while the Singaporean-owned Optus came in second with 8.4 million subscribers. (1 Australian dollar = 0.75 U.S. dollar) Endit