TPG First Nations Customer Support Strategy

Overview

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

This work represents a significant national step for the telecommunications sector, embedding First Nations knowledge, customer experience insights, and data sovereignty principles into mainstream service design. The strategy addresses long-standing digital inequities while supporting TPG’s commitment to inclusive, culturally safe customer engagement across metropolitan, regional, and remote Australia.

Our Role and Approach

Tika EQ led the end-to-end strategic design and integration process, ensuring cultural integrity, customer needs, and commercial objectives were aligned.

Our scope included:

• On-Country and remote research and engagement across Queensland, the Torres Strait Islands, Northern Territory, and New South Wales, using culturally appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods such as yarning circles, interviews, focus groups, and surveys.
• Cultural data interpretation and semiotic analysis, examining how trust, communication, and digital access are experienced by First Nations customers.
• Strategic framework development, translating community insights into a practical, long-term First Nations Customer Support Strategy.
• Alignment with national policy and sector frameworks, including Closing the Gap targets, First Nations Digital Inclusion principles, and Regional Telecommunications Review recommendations.

Cultural governance, informed consent, and community accountability were embedded at every stage of the project, from research design through to final reporting.

Key Insights and Outcomes

The research highlighted the economic, social, and cultural impacts of digital exclusion and identified specific barriers faced by First Nations customers, particularly in regional and remote areas.

The final strategy delivers:

• A First Nations Customer Support Strategic Framework aligned with TPG’s Customer Wellbeing and Engagement Principles.
• A Digital Inclusion Barriers Matrix, mapping trust, access, and service challenges across customer touchpoints.
• Actionable recommendations for service design, communications, and product improvement across short, medium, and long-term horizons.
• Community-defined success measures to track improvements in customer experience, trust, and digital equity.

Legacy and Impact

The TPG Telecom First Nations Customer Support Strategy establishes a strong foundation for culturally safe, equitable digital access across Australia.

The project demonstrates how Connecting with Country principles can be applied beyond the built environment, into digital systems, customer experience, and service delivery. The resulting framework equips TPG to strengthen trust, accountability, and inclusion while supporting national goals for digital equity and First Nations self-determination.