Next week TPG Telecom will reach a fork in the road. One way leads to a merger with Vodafone Hutchison Australia, making it Australia's third biggest telco, approaching in might the two giants of Australian telecommunications, Telstra and Optus. The other will lead to something far less grand and far more troubled.  The decision is in the hands of the Federal Court.

In May the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made the surprise move of blocking the proposed $15 billion merger on the grounds that it would prevent TPG – which is a fixed line player – from entering the mobile market as the nation's fourth mobile operator.