Summary

  • The ACCC’s 2026 report separates operator site totals, the footprint available through Optus–TPG network sharing, and the wholesale services available to MVNOs. These figures describe different layers of control.
  • As of 31 January 2026, all three national MNOs offered 5G non-Standalone access to MVNOs; none offered them 5G Standalone. That is a limit on wholesale access, not evidence that MVNO customers had no 5G service.

The ACCC’s Mobile Infrastructure Report 2026 adds a new view of a familiar market. Its tables show how many mobile sites each national operator reports, where those sites sit, and how the network-sharing arrangement between Optus and TPG changes the footprint TPG can reach. The report also discloses wholesale coverage maps available to mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, and which MVNOs access each type of wholesale coverage. That disclosure followed the ACCC’s 2025 review of its Infrastructure Record Keeping Rules.

The distinction matters because infrastructure is not the same thing as a retail or wholesale service. Telstra reported 12,175 sites, Optus 9,499 and TPG 5,262 on the report’s reference date. The ACCC separately recorded 2,549 Optus–TPG Multi-Operator Core Network sites. When those shared sites are included, TPG’s aggregate accessible footprint was 7,811 sites. An operator’s own count and a shared network footprint are not interchangeable measures, and neither count tells an MVNO what it may resell.

The wholesale data supply a separate answer. Optus provided access to 27 MVNOs, Telstra to 22 and TPG to three. The report does not say these are unique customer totals, nor does it establish how many subscribers each MVNO serves. It records which operators provide wholesale access and the coverage available through those arrangements.

The technology boundary is unusually clear. As of 31 January, none of the three national mobile network operators offered 5G Standalone access to its MVNOs. The 5G access they did offer was non-Standalone. An MVNO could therefore have 5G access while lacking a wholesale product based on 5G SA. “The MVNO has 5G” and “the MVNO has 5G Standalone” are different claims.

The terms describe different architectures. Non-Standalone 5G combines 5G New Radio with LTE in a dual-connectivity arrangement. Standalone uses a 5G radio access network connected to a 5G core. That difference helps explain why the access category is material, but it does not establish a service-quality ranking: the ACCC’s report does not test a customer’s speed, latency, reliability or experience at a particular address. Nor does the report say why the wholesale offers stop at NSA, whether an MVNO asked for SA, or whether any operator intends to change its offer.

One further comparison is specific to coverage. Where an MVNO received both 4G and 5G access, Telstra was the only MNO whose wholesale offer had a smaller coverage footprint than its own retail offer. That finding should not be stretched into a general statement about all services, all technologies or all customer locations. It is a comparison of wholesale and retail footprints under the conditions the report describes.

The report’s central contribution is therefore not a ranking of which network is “best.” It is a cleaner separation of three evidence questions: how many sites an operator reports; how much footprint a sharing arrangement makes reachable; and which technologies and footprints an MVNO can access under wholesale terms. A large site count does not prove that a reseller can offer a given architecture. Network sharing between MNOs does not, by itself, establish an MVNO’s contractual rights.

The date also matters. The ACCC report was published on 22 September 2026, but the underlying infrastructure and coverage information is referenced to 31 January. The ACCC says the historical maps do not reflect the standardized categories under the 2026 Mobile Network Coverage Maps Industry Standard, which took effect on 30 June. A January map and a later standardized provider map should not be treated as if they were produced on the same basis.

For operators, investors and procurement teams, the practical reading is narrow but useful: ask what the wholesale service actually includes. A network name, aggregate site count or general 5G label will not settle whether an MVNO can use Standalone access, which coverage footprint applies, or when that information was measured. Those questions need their own evidence.

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