Singapore Telecom first quarter net profit down 0.2%

Southeast Asia's largest telecom firm by revenues said it earned a net profit of 943 million Singapore dollars (691 million US) in the April-June period, 0.2% down from $945 million a year ago.

Revenues during the fiscal first quarter rose 11.5% to $4.29 billion, SingTel said in a statement, as it announced its user base had soared.

However, strong earnings in its domestic and Australian businesses helped mitigate the weaker contributions from elsewhere, particularly its businesses in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, SingTel said.

The share of pre-tax contributions from Bharti of India, Indonesia's Telkomsel and the Philippines' Globe Telecom fell 10%-34% over the three months, SingTel said.

"The Singapore and Australia businesses turned in strong performances, especially in mobile with both reporting double-digit revenue growth," SingTel group chief executive Chua Sock Koong said in the statement.

"However, competition in the emerging markets led to lower earnings from Bharti, Globe and Telkomsel, as they responded to competition to protect longer term market share," she said.

As well as Bharti, Globe and Telkomsel, SingTel also has stakes in Thailand's Advanced Info Service, Warid of Pakistan and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom.

Overall pre-tax profit from the mobile associates fell 15.8% to $525 million.

SingTel, the city-state's biggest telecoms company, has invested in strategic stakes in the region's mobile phone service providers as a way to access emerging markets.

As of end-June, SingTel said its mobile user base in the region totalled 351 million, well up from 262 million a year ago.

Revenues from the Singapore market rose 10% to $1.52 billion, while SingTel's wholly-owned Australian unit Optus saw revenues climb 2.6% to 2.26 billion Australian dollars (2.06 billion US).

Optus chief executive Paul O'Sullivan said the first quarter was its best ever in terms of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) on a quarterly basis in five years.

Analysts said efforts by Optus to sign up more subscribers, especially with its aggressive marketing of Apple's iPhone, had paid off.

"As a mobile-heavy company, Optus needs to perform well in the mobile market," said David Kennedy, research director with Ovum telecoms consultancy.

"Over the last 12 months, it has kicked some crucial goals," said Kennedy.

Source: AFP