TPG Telecom customers plan to switch after losing email accounts

afr.com:

Disgruntled TPG Telecom customers plan to disconnect and move to other broadband providers after being told they would lose access to emails unless they switched to another company that would charge fees for ad-free services.

Many long-time holders of email addresses issued by TPG and the companies it has acquired, including iiNet, have been unhappy with the group’s decision to stop providing accounts.

TPG, which manages hundreds of thousands of email accounts, has given users six weeks to “opt in” to a new email provider, The Messaging Company, which was created by Brisbane-based Atmail to manage transferring accounts. Atmail chief executive Dave Richards told AFR Weekend that account services would be free for migrating TPG customers until September 2024, but that they would then need to pay about $4 a month for a single account or accept advertising.

“The free options may include some advertising or promotion to fund the cost of providing the service, however, inline with our pledge, we will not data scrape our customers’ emails to target advertising and absolutely under no circumstances would we ever provide users’ data to an advertiser.”

Atmail is finalising prices and expects to offer discounted family plans, Mr Richards said, adding that mailboxes would be protected by “world-class” antivirus technologies.

Mr Richards declined to disclose Atmail’s annual revenues but said the group managed cloud email services for many internet providers including the Isle of Man’s Manx Telecom and the US’ Arvig and Nex-Tech.

“TPG is likely to be the first of many around the world that will transfer their email service to The Messaging Company,” Mr Richards said. “Telcos globally are taking a hard look at the services they