Vodafone Hutchison Australia on Wednesday announced it has signed agreements with TPG Telecom worth in excess of A$1 billion (€627 million) that will, amongst other things, see TPG migrate its mobile customer base to the Vodafone network.
The firms described the deal as "one of the industry’s largest ever mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) arrangements." TPG’s entire mobile base, which stood at 320,000 in July, will transfer to Vodafone from previous host Optus.
"One of the biggest benefits for all existing TPG mobile customers is access to 4G on Vodafone’s network, meaning they will be able to experience substantially faster data speeds," said TPG chief executive David Teoh.
The pair also inked a 15-year agreement under the terms of which TPG will supply dark fibre and network services to 3,000 Vodafone sites. TPG has committed to building 4,000 km of new fibre to enable it to do this.
The build will start immediately, with the majority of the additional network due to be completed in 2018. TPG estimates it will spend A$300 million-A$400 million (€188 million-€251 million) on the project, and said it expects to generate a minimum of A$900 million in revenue over the terms of the contract.
"Network data traffic will continue to grow through customers’ appetite for mobile content and the emergence of technologies such as the Internet of things, and a dark fibre network will allow us to cater for future growth," said Iñaki Berroeta, chief executive of Vodafone Australia.
Meanwhile, TPG’s Teoh noted that the deal builds on an existing relationship between the two companies.
"The end result will be a network that will enable Vodafone to continue to deliver a premium service long into the future, without the capacity limitations of legacy technologies," he said.
