TPG Telecom’s ongoing tech transformation project saw 43 systems decommissioned in 2023, as the company looks to simplify both its brands and its infrastructure in response to a challenging telco market.
The company also said it moved 37 applications to the cloud last year, with another 40 to migrate this year.
The transformation, which started last year, is described as a “multi-year program to simplify our brands, rationalise our products, and build modern, robust, resilient IT systems” in the company’s sustainability report [pdf].
On the IT modernisation front, TPG reported that its target endstate is “a single billing system for [its] consumer [business], and a single billing system for our enterprise, wholesale and government customers”.
The telco also pointed to work “to enhance the digitalisation of our customer experience journeys by driving significant improvements in our digital interfaces and customer care.”
In addition, 2023 saw TPG “significantly increased” the size of its technology security budget and “more than double the size of the team focused on managing these risks”, the telco said.
This included the creation of red and blue teams to identify and reduce vulnerabilities.
Part of the strategy of upgrading or decommissioning IT systems is to address infrastructure and applications that “have become difficult to protect”, the telco said.
Presenting its full-year 2023 results, the telco said the technology transformation programs cost it $31 million in 2023, including $13 million spent closing five out of its eight email platforms, all which will migrate to The Messaging Company by mid-year.
The transformation also attracted a separate $12 million in consultancy costs.
Internet business
While it recorded a strong performance in its consumer mobile business, TPG Telecom said the consumer fixed broadband market remains challenging due to “aggressive competition” from smaller and non-telco NBN retailers.
The company’s fixed broadband subscriber base fell by 91,000, with a loss of 109,000 fixed NBN subscribers partly offset by fixed wireless growth of 56,000 customers to 227,000.
CEO Iñaki Berroeta said there will be a focus in 2024 on stabilising TPG Telecom’s fixed broadband customer base.
Consumer mobile subscribers grew by more than 170,000 to a total of 5.15 million, with consumer mobile revenue growing by 9.3 percent to more than $2.15 billion.
Enterprise and government revenue rose by $20 million to $732 million, while wholesale fell by $10 million to $276 million.
Berroeta attributed the wholesale result to a decline in “non-core products”, and said on-network Fast Fibre and NBN Fast Ethernet product sales performed well.
Mobile network upgrades also continue, with Beroetta saying “we have now upgraded more than 3000 sites to 5G”.
That’s more than half of TPG’s sites, he said, and the 5G upgrade in metro areas will be completed in 2026.
TPG also finished decommissioning Huawei equipment during 2023.
Following the competition tribunal formalising the ACCC’s block on the proposed TPG-Telstra MCON deal last year, Berroeta said the company will continue exploring network sharing options to expand its regional coverage.
In the 2023 financial year, the company reported total revenue of $4.6 billion (up 4.3 percent in the year), and statutory EBITDA of $1.88 billion (down 12.2 percent year-on-year).
Ry Crozier contributed to this report.
