TPG reports 41% jump in profits
TPG Telecom has reported a 41 percent jump in net profits after tax for the first half of the 2013 financial year, up to AU$78.3 million on the back of ADSL and mobile customer gains.
TPG reported adding 36,000 broadband customers in the six months ending December 2012. This was mainly through adding 66,000 home phone and internet bundle customers, which was offset by a decline of 23,000 on-net broadband customers and 7,000 off-net broadband customers. The company now has 631,000 broadband customers in Australia.
The company added 48,000 new mobile customers in the period, bringing its total mobile customer base to 303,000.
Average revenue per user was up for broadband customers, to AU$48.68 per month.
TPG's fibre network added 766km in the period, and its footprint now sits at 3,800km2 connects to over 1,500 premises. The company completed its rollout of fibre backhaul for Vodafone's mobile network in the last half.
Following the announcement that M2 would acquire Dodo, TPG remains one of the last of the larger ISPs to be involved in any ISP market consolidation. Prior to iiNet buying out Internode, it had been widely speculated that TPG would take over iiNet, but any potential takeover of the company would now likely struggle to be approved by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
TPG has a 7.24 percent stake in iiNet, but according to iiNet CEO Michael Malone, the investment just gives TPG "a seat at the table".