TPG is the first ISP to take advantage of the NBN’s increased bandwidth to offer unlimited data downloads. The offer also comes with unlimited voice calls. It is likely to be the first of many new and cheaper voice and data plans that ISPs will offer as they take advantage of the NBN’s massive bandwidth increases.
TPG’s announcement that it will offer unlimited data downloads on its NBN service is a challenge to existing ISPs, whose “unlimited” services are anything but. As the NBN takes hold, it shows how existing data plans will soon be out of date. The economics of the NBN will be vastly different than those of the existing ADSL world. Bandwidth growth has never been linear – it goes up in chunks. A quantum leap is upon us – and the world is changing.
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The announcement was made in TPG’s report of its financial results for the 2011-12 financial year. Revenues were up 15% to $663 million, and earnings (EBITDA) up 12% to $261.4 million. The results are healthy for the ASX listed carrier, whose share price has risen to over $2.10 in the last month after hitting a low of $1.30 less than a year ago.
The company now has 595,000 broadband subscribers. It reported an improved ARPU (average revenue per user) of $48.15 for the second half of the year, driven by its success in moving an increased number of subscribers to a voice/ADSL bundle. Home phone subscribers doubled during the year, from 107,000 to 221,000. It also has 255,000 mobile subscribers, many bundled with a home phone.
TPG’s corporate division, operating under the PIPE Networks brand, delivered earning of $111m, a 30% increase over the previous year. As 31 July PIPE’s domestic fibre network spanned 2572 km, a 30% expansion during the year. PIPE is in the process of upgrading its PPC-1 submarine cable which TPG says will significantly increase its international capacity “to 6Tb/s and beyond”.
The company announced a 2.75 cent dividend per share, payable on 20 November 2012.
