Regional Australians are set to benefit from improved mobile coverage and greater competition as Vodafone doubles the reach of its Australian network to cover more than 1 million square kilometres.
The expansion comes thanks to a $1.17 billion network-sharing deal between Optus and Vodafone Australia’s parent company TPG Telecom. The Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) agreement triples Vodafone’s regional mobile sites across the country and increases its 4G population coverage from 96% to 98.4%, following Australia’s 3G network shutdown.
Customers will also benefit from extended 5G connectivity as part of the regional agreement, with 1,500 5G sites live by 2028, expanding to 2,444 sites by 2030.
Approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in 2024, the 11-year deal allows TPG and Optus to reduce costs and set up their Australian 5G infrastructure two years ahead of schedule.
The deal follows TPG’s non-exclusive partnership with US satellite company Lynk Global in 2024, to help eliminate mobile dead zones across Australia.
Vodafone MVNOs set to get better network coverage
With the January 30 switch-on, the extended coverage is available immediately and at no extra charge to all Vodafone customers. This includes customers of other TPG Telecom brands including TPG, iiNet, Lebara and Felix.
Other Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) that will benefit from Vodafone’s expanded network coverage in Australia include Kogan Mobile and LycaMobile.
Meanwhile, as part of the agreement, Optus will gain access to TPG’s mobile spectrum in regional Australia. This will result in extra network capacity, faster speeds and extended 5G coverage for Optus customers and potentially those MVNOs that rely on the Optus network.
Optus MVNOs include AGL, Amaysim, Aussie Broadband, Catch Connect, Circles.Life, Coles Mobile, Dodo, iPrimus, Moose Mobile, Southern Phone, SpinTel and Yomojo.
Which areas of Australia benefit most?
While the network-sharing deal between TPG and Optus will benefit every state and territory, the greatest increases in network area coverage come to outback regions of Queensland (312%), South Australia (257%) and the Northern Territory (253%).
The deal improves network performance at a range of top regional holiday hotspots. This includes increasing coverage from 86.5% to 95.3% of the population in NSW’s Coffs Harbour, 88.6% to 90% in Queensland’s Gladstone, 69.6% to 97.5% in Victoria’s Grampians and 66.7% to 96.1% in South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
What happened to previous Australia network-sharing deals?
In 2022, the ACCC blocked a proposed similar network-sharing deal between TPG and Telstra. The consumer watchdog noted that such a deal would lessen competition and not benefit regional Australians, considering that Telstra already offers Australia’s most extensive regional network coverage.
A TPG-Telstra deal would have extended Vodafone’s Australian coverage to 98.8% of the population.
Back in 2019, TPG abandoned its plans to build Australia’s fourth mobile network, which would have further increased mobile competition. Instead, TPG went on to merge with Vodafone Hutchinson Australia.
Telstra and Hutchison Australia – operator of “3”, Australia’s first 3G mobile network – ended an eight-year network-sharing deal in 2012, after Vodafone Australia and Hutchison merged in 2009.
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