I have been curiously following news on the Telstra/TPG(Voda) network sharing deal since it was announced in February.
If you’re not in the loop, the two have a network sharing deal planned for regional areas where Vodafone gets access to Telstra towers in exchange for Telstra getting to use their spectrum, pending ACCC approval.
One of the major points being used to justify this to the ACCC to approve it is that it will strengthen competition by giving Vodafone the extra coverage to level the playing field with the other two networks.
The deal would put Vodafone coverage on par with your average Telstra reseller, eg Aldi Mobile.
What I am curious about is, given that the coverage barrier would be largely removed from consideration, how many people would actually consider the telco switch now based on their other competitive factors (like plan prices and roaming)? Or has their previous reputation permanently damaged their image here in the the regional zones?
There’s more to a network than just having access to the tower. Vodafone still has to maintain the radio equipment and offer the call and data service. It remains to be seen if this will even put Voda “on par”