TPG Telecom treads on Telstra’s turf with private mobile push
TPG Telecom is signing up more resources companies to private mobile networks, edging into industries dominated by Telstra after handing over a new network to coal miner Yancoal in NSW’s Hunter Valley.
The telecoms group, which won its first private mobile network contract last year – with Yancoal – is understood to have signed contracts with two other resources groups, including a gold mining company, in the past few weeks. It considers expansion into private networks a strategic priority.
Private mobile networks cover specific locations, with telecoms companies marketing them as being more reliable than Wi-Fi in remote areas, underground and inside buildings, as well as being more secure.
Mining companies want their own private mobile networks so workers can communicate easily and securely in remote areas Getty
They are popular with companies that operate in remote or regional areas, or that use automated equipment.
TPG has spent about 12 months developing a standalone private network with Nokia for Yancoal at the company’s Mt Thorley Warkworth open cut coal mines south-west of Singleton and installing equipment.
The 4GE LTE [fourth generation long-term evolution] network, which operates alongside TPG’s public network, increases Yancoal’s on-site mobile coverage to 99 per cent from 60 per cent previously, according to TPG.
Yancoal said it was using the private network to shift more workers to wireless devices (because there is less risk of black spots or connections dropping out) and to gather data to make its operations more efficient.
In a report released in June, the UK’s Juniper Research forecast the global $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) market for private networks will expand to $US10 billion by 2028 due to demand
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