Why telcos should be more wary of MyRepublic than TPG

It could serve as a defect in the battle of incumbents with TPG.

MyRepublic's bid to become a mobile virtual network operator is seen to exacerbate the competitive headwinds in the telco market ahead of TPG’s rollout.

According to RHB, MyRepublic had promised to bring back the high data bundles in the market prior to submitting its bid for the fourth mobile license, which was eventually won by TPG.

The aspiring MVNO is looking at no more than a 5-6% market share and could potentially break even with a 1.5% market share with no network baggage, RHB said.

This compares to with TPG’s earlier target to be EBITDA-positive with a 5-6% market share

"We expect MyRepublic to initially tap the low hanging fruits or its current base of around 70,000 fibre broadband customers. MyRepublic’s entry into the mobile business could serve to “defect” competition from TPG on the incumbent mobile network operators as MyRepublic could pose more of a threat to TPG, in our view," RHB said.