After-tax profit was $167 million, double the $78 million from the 2021 period, bolstered by capital loss tax credits gained through the sale of its mobile tower and rooftop infrastructure to Canadian pension fund OMERS.
The fully franked interim dividend rose from 8¢ per share to 9¢ per share.
The CEO also highlighted growth in the company’s fixed wireless product – a mobile-based home internet alternative to low-margin national broadband network services – where TPG added 33,000 new subscribers.
It now had 113,000 fixed wireless customers and plans to grow that number to 160,000 by 2023.
“The continued growth of our Fixed Wireless business shows there is a strong market for NBN alternatives that deliver great products for customers and leverage our proprietary infrastructure,” Mr Berroeta said.
“While NBN pricing continues to challenge industry profitability, we are hopeful the recent reset will lead to practical changes to the Special Access Undertaking aligned to NBN’s original purpose to provide fast, reliable and affordable connectivity.”
Mr Berroeta said TPG’s proposed network sharing deal would bring more competition to regional areas and give its “5 million mobile customers faster access to regional 5G services than would otherwise be achievable”. It will also boost TPG’s mobile coverage to almost 99 percent of the population.
He said TPG would grow earnings in the second half of the year.
“TPG Telecom is transitioning to a new phase of growth following a prolonged period of market uncertainty,” Mr Berroeta said.
“[TPG] expects earnings momentum to accelerate in the second half of FY22 with the full run-rate benefit of a higher Mobile subscriber base, targeted on-net strategies and tactical pricing to support Fixed product margins.”