TPG says it rushed on 4G to beat Vodafone

TPG Telecom founder David Teoh has told the Federal Court his company rushed its mobile strategy in order to beat Vodafone Hutchison Australia to 4G spectrum and start building an independent mobile network.

Under questioning from the competition regulator’s legal counsel Michael Hodge QC, Mr Teoh conceded that TPG had pushed ahead with its plan to buy the spectrum without a definitive model in place.

The reclusive billionaire returned to the Federal Court in Melbourne yesterday as TPG and Vodafone Australia locked horns with the competition regulator on their stalled $15 billion merger plan.

TPG paid $1.2 billion for 700 Megahertz (MHz) spectrum in April 2017 – the purchase being the most expensive if its type in recent history.

But Mr Teoh said he was not overly concerned about paying top dollar for the 4G spectrum, given its strategic importance.

“It was important for the company to get into mobile,” he told the court.

The spectrum, crucial for 4G mobile services, had been left over from the original “digital dividend” auction in 2013.

Vodafone Australia, which decided against participating in the 2013 auction, had pitched a $594 million offer to the federal government in May 2016.

The unsolicited firmly rejected.

Mr Teoh said that while TPG was committed to bidding for the 700 MHz spectrum, it did not have a concrete strategy in place.

“We didn’t have time to do that, we didn’t have the model,” he said. bid was