Australia's TPG Telecom announced Friday a $1.08 billion bid for rival iiNet in a merger that would form the nation's second-largest Internet service provider. The two companies said in a joint statement that iiNet's board unanimously recommended the offer. The NBN, or national broadband network, aims to connect most Australian homes to superfast Internet over the next few years. iiNet chairman Michael Smith said the offer was a "significant reward" for shareholders. Sydney-based TPG has 748,000 broadband customers and Perth-based iiNet has 975,000, which combined would push it ahead of Singtel Optus' almost one million estimated customers. Telstra, the country's dominant telecoms firm, has three million broadband customers.