Better, faster, stronger: TPG brings benefits to Vodafone users on day one

Vodafone customers can expect an increase in their mobile network speeds as the $15 billion merger with TPG Telecom completes and forms Australia's third major telco player.

The two providers, which first announced plans to merge in August 2018, will operate as a single entity for the first time today, marking an end to a lengthy process riddled with regulatory hurdles.

TPG boss Inaki Berroeta says Vodafone mobile customers can expect an immediate boost in user experience.Credit: Renee Nowytarger

Vodafone customers in Melbourne and Canberra will be the first to benefit from the integration of TPG's spectrum and small cell equipment, which the company says will increase mobile speeds, provide consistent mobile coverage in busy areas and improve overall network performance.

"We've been working on a lot of the technology integration," TPG Telecom chief executive Iñaki Berroeta told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. "We're putting the spectrum on our network, and that is going to give a lot of capacity. Capacity in a mobile phone is higher speeds...and use more data.

"From today, customers in Canberra will benefit from a 20 per cent increase in capacity after we deployed additional 1800MHz spectrum to 99 sites," he said. "We have also turned on 46 small cells in the Melbourne CBD to improve performance in busy areas such as Collins Street and Docklands."

The new TPG Telecom logo.

Mr Berroeta will address all staff remotely through Facebook Workplace this morning before attending the company's first board meeting. Integration of the TPG and Vodafone teams will commence immediately.

The new-look business, under Mr Berroeta's leadership, will bring together a range of mobile and fix broadband networks including Vodafone, TPG, iiNet, Internode and Lebara. The company has created a new corporate logo with a design agency Landor to explain which brands sit under TPG Telecom. It will trade on a deferred settlements basis until Tuesday.

Mr Berroeta previously told the Herald and The Age that the opportunity to share infrastructure, to cross-sell to customers and the ability to compete in the enterprise market would entice investors.

"It is a properly financed business with a strong management team in a good sector with good opportunities - usually analysts like that," Mr Berroeta said. "What is the stock market going to do? I have no idea."

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