TPG’s ‘green’ Felix mobile flicks switch on 5G and launches into Woolworths and Officeworks

Australia’s first carbon neutral mobile brand is upping the ante in its fight for mainstream acceptance, signing its third major retail distribution deal.

Kelly Beater, head of Felix mobile, says going green doesn’t have to cost the earth.

TPG Telecom’s low-cost mobile brand, Felix, is expanding into Woolworths and Officeworks, saying its “environmentally responsible” plans are entering the mainstream as it seeks to shake-up the 5G and fiercely competitive telco market.

Felix says it is Australia’s first telco to use 100 per cent renewable energy and is carbon neutral; it plants a tree for each month a customer maintains their mobile plan with the brand.

Its launch into Woolworths and Officeworks coincides with Felix activating its 5G network across 3000 suburbs and more are to come.

TPG was the first major telco to retire its 3G network late last year, freeing up more spectrum for 5G. But the transition has been far from smooth.

Australia’s biggest telco, Telstra, has delayed its 3G shutdown by two months amid fears that hundreds of thousands of Australians might not be able to call triple-0 on their older handsets or accept payments on EFTPOS terminals.

TPG – which began to switch its 3G network off last December – joined other telcos in asking the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to use its product recall powers to help alert people that their phones might be useless in an emergency when the 3G network is switched off. It was a request which the regulator snubbed.

Felix Mobile head Kelly Beater said the 5G upgrade would deliver speeds of up to 150Mbps for its 25GB ($25) and 50GB ($30) monthly plans. This compares with base NBN plan speeds, which range from 12Mpbs to 25Mpbs and cost about $60-$70 a month.

“We’re thrilled to bring the super fast speeds, lower latency and superior performance of 5G to our Felix community,” Ms Beater said.

“We are always looking at new ways to improve our customers’ experience, and with this 5G upgrade and major retail expansion, we providing Australians a simple way to access great speeds, value and service that don’t cost the earth.”

Ms Beater said a survey of 1000 Australians revealed 83 per cent of respondents believed it was important to choose more environmentally sustainable products but 40 per cent believed doing so was financially out of reach.

“We want to myth bust the notion that environmentally responsible products and services cost more. Our expansion into Woolworths and Officeworks is a significant step towards this mission, showing that with Felix you don’t need to choose between your cost or conscience,” she said.

Felix has partnered with One Tree Planted, a global not-for-profit organisation, to plant trees on behalf of its customers. Through the arrangement, Felix has donated 1.8 million trees globally and Ms Beater said it would achieve its target of two million trees by the end of 2024.

“This initiative not only contributes to reforestation efforts, combating the effects of climate change, it also has tangible biodiversity and community impacts,” she said.

One Tree Planted’s projects include the “Koala Corridor” in the NSW Northern Rivers region, in which it has donated 83,000 trees. It is also working to restore 520ha of degraded land across the Peruvian Amazon, as well as reforested private properties in the southeast US, which have been ravaged by natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and floods.

Felix – which uses eSIMs, meaning customers don’t need a physical SIM card, in a move to further bolster its environmental credentials – signed its first major retail distribution contract with Coles in March.

This makes Felix mobile plans now available at more than 2300 stores across Australia.

In an effort to entice more customers to 5G, it is offering the upgrade at no cost and has reduced its $25/25GB plan to $10 for the first three months after signing up.

Felix - along with TPG’s other budget mobile brands Lebara and Kogan - recorded a 12.6 per cent gain in subscriber growth to 842,000 in the year to December 31. This compared with its postpaid subscribers in its flagship Vodafone brand firming 0.6 per cent to 3.35m.

Felix, Lebara and Kogan accounted for more than half of the 175,000 new customers that TPG signed last year. The telco’s overall mobile revenue surged 9.3 per cent to $2.2bn.

It comes as the nation’s third-biggest telco is lifting the average cost of its flagship Vodafone plans by $4 a month.