TPG Telecom’s 5G network will cover 85 per cent of the population in major cities from Monday morning, a key milestone for Australia’s second-largest ASX-listed telco, after its rollout faced major issues due to a government ban on Huawei infrastructure and further delays over a lengthy merger process.

But TPG mobile networks executive Barry Kezik says the hold-ups allowed the company to rethink the rollout and build “smarter” systems, which he hopes will fatten its margins by weaning customers off less profitable NBN home internet plans and compete with Telstra’s more mature 5G offerings.