TPG customers are being invited into an exclusive club – an NBN-skirting 5G fixed wireless club.
As revealed by CommsDay, the telco has started offering some customers the opportunity to trial 5G home broadband, handing out discounts for those that make the move.
On a “premium” plan, customers will get unlimited data, pay $0 in upfront fees and receive up to a maximum of 100/20Mbps. The “max” plan is similar, it just doesn’t have a cap on maximum upload and download speeds.
TPG’s premium plan costs $69.99 a month for new customers and $64.99 a month for existing TPG customers. TPG’s max plan will set new customers back $79.99 a month, while existing customers will be charged $74.99 a month.
For comparison, new customers taking up the premium plan will pay the same as the existing TPG NBN50 plan, which includes unlimited data and 50Mbps typical evening speeds. Current customers will pay the equivalent of the TPG NBN25 plan, which also includes unlimited data, but 25Mbps typical evening speeds.
On NBN, TPG customers wanting access to what is being offered to premium 5G plan buyers would need to jump on the NBN100 plan, which, for 90Mbps typical evening speeds, will currently set new customers back $79.99 a month for the first six months, then $89.99 a month thereafter.
Pricing is pretty on par with what the telco heavyweight offers through its Vodafone brand.
Last week, Vodafone unveiled its 5G fixed wireless home internet service to a bunch of suburbs around the country, offering two 5G services: an unlimited download plan with speeds up to 100Mbps at $75 a month, as well as an unlimited download plan with speeds at the maximum 5G speed for $85 a month.
Across the group, TPG’s total fixed broadband customer base increased in the six months to June 2021 by 23,000 to 2.2 million, including 1.95 million NBN customers. The NBN customer base increased by 48,000 in the period.
Expanding 5G home broadband to its TPG brand also expands the potential base for its 5G fixed wireless offering, with those 1.95 million customers now a prime target for the invite.
In delivering the group’s financials last month, CEO Iñaki Berroeta said TPG Telecom is seeing rapid early growth in NBN alternatives, pointing to the fact its 4G home wireless customer base more than tripled in the first six months of the year.
“We will build on this following the launch of our 5G home wireless,” he said. “Our mobile network is better than ever through our fast-tracked 5G rollout and combined spectrum deployment, and this will support mobile and home wireless growth as 5G reaches scale in major cities by the end of the year.”
Telstra has also been trialling 5G home internet plans, but these are currently only sold on an invite-only basis, while Optus gives you the option to pay $75 a month for speeds capped to 100Mbps or $90 a month for uncapped speeds.