- Optus has heightened its campaign against the pending Telstra-TPG regional network sharing deal as released in its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
- According to Optus, if the deal proceeds, there would be “no commercial rationale for ongoing significant investment in regional areas either by Optus” or any other telco.
- Optus told the ACCC that the deal “will bring Optus to a tipping point where these investment challenges become unassailable."
Optus has heightened its campaign against the pending Telstra-TPG regional network sharing deal as released in its submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
According to Optus, if the deal proceeds, there would be “no commercial rationale for ongoing significant investment in regional areas either by Optus” or any other telco. Optus told the ACCC that the deal “will bring Optus to a tipping point where these investment challenges become unassailable.”
“Given Telstra’s vastly increased regional dominance and scale no rational competitor will have any realistic prospect of recovering future network investments,” Optus said. The deal will have the effect of “the ’locking’ competition out of the regional market and eliminating choice in regional Australia,” Optus further added.
The agreement “will strengthen Telstra, weaken Optus and the competitive pressure that Optus imposes on Telstra'' and also decrease the resilience of telecom infrastructure in regional areas. Optus also argued that the deal will result in a “reduction from three to two regional mobile network operators.”
In contrast, TPG said that the arrangement will enable them to compete in premises where it wouldn’t otherwise be able to support customers.
“TPG’s entire reason for this deal is to increase the size of its network so it can win customers from both Telstra and Optus, meaning all mobile consumers will benefit from greater choice and competition,” James Rickards, TPG Telecom general manager said.
Rickards further added: “Under the network sharing deal, we will go from having 5500 sites with only a small number in regional areas to around 8500 mobile sites across metro and regional Australia connected into our core network where service quality, pricing, and product differentiation are all controlled by us.”
“The resiliency of telco networks will not change whether this network sharing deal goes ahead or not,” Rickards further added.
“TPG Telecom had no plans to significantly expand its regional network infrastructure, and this was not going to change. The biggest threat to the ongoing operation of communications infrastructure during natural disasters is power supply. Widespread electrical blackouts affect all networks at the same time. It is far better to make existing sites more resilient to the effects of natural disasters by hardening site defences against flood and fire, ensuring power supply is secure, and backups are in place. TPG Telecom is doing this today and will continue to do so under our network sharing deal, to help communities stay connected when they need our services most.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Telstra said that the deal was “hugely positive for regional Australia.” The deal will “unleash new mobile capacity in regional Australia through use of underutilised spectrum in thousands of regional sites, as well as enabling new competition and choice,” the spokesperson said.
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