TPG First Nations Customer Support Strategy

Overview

TPG Telecom engaged Tika EQ to design and deliver its first First Nations Customer Support Strategy, aimed at improving digital inclusion, service accessibility, and trust between TPG and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander customers across Australia.

This work represents a national step forward for the telecommunications sector; embedding First Nations knowledge, customer experience insights, and data sovereignty principles into mainstream service design.

To deliver the research foundation of the strategy, Tika EQ partnered with Scout Insights, a First Nations-owned data and research company, to undertake on-Country research and community engagement specifically in Queensland, the Torres Strait Islands, NorthernTerritory, and New South Wales.

Our Role and Approach

Tika EQ’s role was to lead the strategic design and integration process, ensuring cultural, commercial, and customer priorities were aligned. Our scope included:

• On-Country and remote community research with Scout Insights using qualitative and quantitative tools such as yarning circles, interviews, focus groups, and surveys.
• Cultural data interpretation and semiotic analysis, examining how First Nations communities perceive communication, trust, and digital inclusion.
• Strategic framework design, translating insights into a long-term, actionable First Nations Customer Support Strategy.
• Alignment with national frameworks such as the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group (FNDIAG) principles, Closing the Gap targets, and Regional Communications Review recommendations.

Our process placed cultural governance and informed consent at the centre of each phase, from project scoping to final reporting.

Key Insights and Outcomes

The research uncovered the economic, social, and cultural impacts of digital inclusion and the specific needs of regional and remote First Nations customers. The final strategy will deliver:

• A Strategic Framework for TPG’s First Nations Customer Support that aligns with its existing Customer Wellbeing and Engagement Principles.
• A Digital Inclusion Barriers Matrix mapping key accessibility and trust challenges.
• Actionable recommendations for product, communication, and service model improvement across short, medium, and long-term timeframes.
• Community-led measures of success to track digital equity and customer experience outcomes.

Legacy and Impact

The TPG Telecom First Nations Customer Support Strategy establishes a foundation for equitable digital access and culturally safe customer service.

Through collaboration between Tika EQ, Scout Insights, and TPG’s internal teams, the project demonstrates how Connecting with Country principles can be applied beyond design, and into the digital and customer experience space.

The resulting framework equips TPG to build long-term trust, accountability, and inclusion, supporting national goals for digital equity and self-determination.

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