TPG Telecom will pay Optus about $653.2 million to use its rival’s mobile infrastructure in regional Australia after regulators blocked an earlier plan to share with Telstra.

TPG and Optus apparently hated each other’s guts. But their new regional mobile networking sharing deal shows commercial logic has prevailed.

Eight months after a network sharing deal with Telstra fell through, TPG Telecom sealed a deal with Optus which provide access to its regional 4G and 5G networks.

Australia's TPG Telecom and Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, have signed network-sharing agreements to increase TPG's coverage and cut capital spending, the companies said on

TPG Telecom and Optus have signed a network sharing agreement, but it feels eerily similar to the axed deal with Telstra last year.

Optus parent Singtel is writing off billions of dollars, cushioned by a $1.6 billion cash deal with rival TPG Telecom to expand telecommunications services in regional Australia.

The rival telcos will share their networks across country Australia, providing a viable alternative to the market leader.

Optus and TPG have signed a $1.6bn network deal which will see the two major telcos share mobile networks across regional Australia.

TPG has signed a $1.6 billion deal to dramatically scale up mobile coverage in regional Australia using the Optus network, a move which could set up a battle with Telstra.

Chief of Singtel-owned company says a similar deal it opposed between TPG and Telstra ‘very different in that Optus is not the dominant player’