A deal a long, long time in the making comes to fruition today with Vodafone switching on over 600,000 square km of new mobile coverage for regional Australia – more than doubling their existing network footprint.
Almost three years ago TPG/Vodafone announced a deal to work with Telstra to share their regional mobile network. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said hang on, let’s take a look and in the end for no reason that makes sense to anyone at EFTM, they knocked it back. I broke this down in great detail in June 2023 and stand by those comments today.
Fast forward to April last year, and TPG did a similar deal with Optus for access to their regional network, which the ACCC approved in September. If you really want to know how far this goes back, ask TPG Telecom CEO Iñaki Berroeta about his calls for mandated access to the Telstra Network over 8 years ago – the ACCC knocked that back too.
All that said, today is a good day, a great day for regional Australia with Vodafone Customers getting mobile access thanks to Optus Mobile towers, and Optus Customers getting better speeds and network reliability thanks to TPG adding their valuable spectrum to Optus’ which creates a win win for everyone on both networks.
The numbers are staggering.
Vodafone goes from 400,000 square km of coverage to over 1,000,000.
The sheer scale of that is hard to fathom. Take these numbers in:
| State | PREVIOUS POPULATION % COVERAGE | NEW POPULATION % COVERAGE | Area/coverage increase (x times) |
| NSW | 96.2% | 98.4% | 1.9 |
| VIC | 97.0% | 99.6% | 2.3 |
| QLD | 94.2% | 98.1% | 4.1 |
| SA | 95.1% | 99.2% | 3.6 |
| WA | 94.9% | 97.3% | 2.8 |
| TAS | 88.1% | 96.4% | 1.9 |
| NT | 75.9% | 80.4% | 3.5 |
| ACT | 99.8% | 99.9% | 1.1 |
| Totals | 95.4% | 98.4% | 2.7 |
Almost triple the coverage area nationally, more than four times the coverage in Queensland, almost double in NSW and Tasmania, more than double in Victoria!
It seems small to see a 2% Increase in those quoted numbers, but that’s population, not area!
In regional Australia, the total number of mobile sites more than triples, to over 2,500.
By this point, you’re thinking yeah yeah, numbers.
But I’ve put this to the test. I have family in Young – I’ve driven down here many many times. The road from Yass to Young is about 97km, and for the most part the Lachlan Valley Way was a dead zone. I remember being stuck on that road for a few hours once recently due to a bushfire and we had no coverage at all. My Telstra phone had one bar.
Today, driving that road, I counted about 3km of the road where my phone went to no coverage. I was blown – away.
I doubted it, so pulled over in a one bar coverage zone and made a call – worked, crystal clear.
Across the Yass-Young region there are now 27 mobile sites, up from just 9. An increase in coverage area from 54% to 88%, with population coverage going from 76% to 95%!
In the town of Young there was just one tower, there’s now six!
And there are similar stories right across Australia.
Here’s a staggering list of areas by state with big population coverage uplifts.
| NSW | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Wagga Wagga | 15 | 48 | 33 | 87.7% | 98.9% |
| South Coast | 15 | 45 | 30 | 89.0% | 95.4% |
| Griffith – Murrumbidgee (West) | 9 | 37 | 28 | 88.9% | 98.8% |
| Coffs Harbour | 13 | 39 | 26 | 86.5% | 95.3% |
| Port Macquarie | 6 | 31 | 25 | 93.8% | 96.6% |
| QLD | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Voda population coverage | Expanded population coverage |
| Gladstone | 9 | 34 | 25 | 88.6% | 98.0% |
| Bundaberg | 12 | 35 | 23 | 93.5% | 99.9% |
| Darling Downs (West) – Maranoa | 9 | 32 | 23 | 56.1% | 85.6% |
| Bowen Basin – North | 7 | 28 | 21 | 34.5% | 93.6% |
| Outback – South | 0 | 21 | 21 | 0.0% | 60.4% |
| VIC | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Grampians | 6 | 37 | 31 | 69.6% | 97.5% |
| Upper Goulburn Valley | 3 | 17 | 14 | 81.5% | 93.8% |
| Murray River – Swan Hill | 5 | 19 | 14 | 50.9% | 96.5% |
| Gippsland – South West | 3 | 17 | 14 | 67.3% | 98.1% |
| Wodonga – Alpine | 3 | 14 | 11 | 81.0% | 95.4% |
| WA | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Wheat Belt – North | 12 | 66 | 54 | 49.6% | 83.6% |
| Augusta – Margaret River – Busselton | 11 | 36 | 25 | 99.1% | 99.4% |
| Wheat Belt – South | 5 | 23 | 18 | 47.1% | 70.9% |
| Bunbury | 20 | 36 | 16 | 99.4% | 99.6% |
| Albany | 6 | 22 | 16 | 80.1% | 89.0% |
| NT | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Daly – Tiwi – West Arnhem | 1 | 7 | 6 | 12.3% | 17.2% |
| Litchfield | 10 | 15 | 5 | 97.4% | 98.5% |
| Alice Springs | 5 | 8 | 3 | 78.4% | 78.5% |
| Katherine | 1 | 3 | 2 | 60.1% | 61.8% |
| Barkly | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.0% | 58.6% |
| ACT | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Belconnen | 6 | 25 | 1 | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Tuggeranong | 20 | 21 | 1 | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Canberra East | 4 | 7 | 1 | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| Uriarra – Namadgi | 24 | 0 | 0 | 79.4% | 84.6% |
| SA | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| Murray and Mallee | 16 | 64 | 48 | 84.1% | 98.6% |
| Eyre Peninsula and South West | 3 | 42 | 39 | 66.7% | 96.1% |
| Limestone Coast | 16 | 43 | 27 | 90.1% | 98.5% |
| Fleurieu – Kangaroo Island | 13 | 36 | 23 | 86.7% | 98.3% |
| Lower North | 4 | 25 | 21 | 59.0% | 96.7% |
| TAS | |||||
| Region | Number of Vodafone sites | Number of Voda + new sites | Increase in number of sites | Previous population coverage | New population coverage |
| North East | 6 | 37 | 31 | 50.8% | 89.8% |
| Devonport | 3 | 17 | 14 | 81.2% | 98.4% |
| South East Coast | 5 | 19 | 14 | 75.2% | 97.9% |
| West Coast | 3 | 17 | 14 | 47.3% | 84.8% |
| Meander Valley – West Tamar | 3 | 14 | 11 | 84.3% | 93.1% |
And it’s not just coverage. Thanks to this arrangement basically taking the fullest advantage of the Vodafone/TPG Spectrum, speeds are up too.
Some testing internally at TPG saw speeds on 4G boost by triple, in some cases over 200%.
On 5G the numbers went up 150% or higher. This is a game-changing deal.
And it only works, if people are willing to switch.
Vodafone will entice customers with a $10 discount on new SIM only and Handset plans, as well as big Double data bonuses.
There’s literally never been a better time to be a mobile customer in regional Australia
And, it’s not just Vodafone – smaller carriers on the TPG/Vodafone network like Kogan Mobile for example, will get access to this expanded regional network.
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts two popular podcasts, EFTM and Two Blokes Talking Tech. He also appears on over 50 radio stations across Australia weekly, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show each day and appears regularly on A Current Affair.
Father of three, he is often found down in his Man Cave.
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