The founder of Boost Mobile has weighed in on the spat between telco giant TPG and the ACCC, saying the watchdog “let consumers down” on the TPG-Vodafone merger.
TPG has accused the ACCC of getting its numbers wrong in a Monday press release, where it said prices for mobile plans had risen at the big three telcos following last year’s merger between TPG and Vodafone.
Peter Adderton, founder of Boost Mobile, has now joined the fray, saying he had “begged” the ACCC prior to the merger to support competition by advocating for regulations to ensure smaller mobile providers were protected.
“The ACCC was solely focused on objecting to the Vodafone-TPG merger as its Plan A. They had no Plan B.
“I always said they were not going to be able to block it, and they should have instead taken the opportunity to make sure that the merger went through with protections,” he said.
Rod Sims, ACCC.
According to Adderton, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like Boost foster competition and provide value for consumers, and says prices have increased because the ACCC failed to protect the wholesale market.
“It is the ACCC that should have worked with TPG and Vodafone to make sure that MVNOs had a place in their new combined network on favourable terms, just as the Department of Justice did in the US when it ensured that Dish had a very favourable wholesale deal in the Sprint-T-Mobile merger.
“MVNOs have benefits for carriers as well, but they need protections to make sure they are able to negotiate good deals,” he said.
In the ACCC’s press release, the consumer watchdog encouraged consumers to switch to smaller providers to save on phone bills.
