SingTel says first quarter net profit up 7.7 percent

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said Thursday its regional mobile partners drove up quarterly profits by 7.7 percent despite a tough business climate. For the three months ended June, net profit totalled 945 million Singapore dollars (652 million US), up from 878 million a year before, Southeast Asia's largest telecoms firm by revenues said.
The Singapore company's June quarter earnings were below the forecast for an average net profit of 977.1 million dollars tipped by a Dow Jones Newswires poll of five analysts. Revenues in the April-June period increased 1.9 percent on the year to 3.85 billion dollars, SingTel said. "The current operating environment remains a challenge," chief executive Chua Sock Koong said.
"We will continue to monitor the macro environment and our cost management initiatives." SingTel said pre-tax profit at its six regional mobile associates grew 12.6 percent year-on-year to 647 million dollars, led by strong performances from Bharti Telecom of India and Indonesia's Telkomsel. SingTel holds a 30.4 percent stake in Bharti and 35 percent in Telkomsel. It also has stakes in four other regional mobile operators: Globe Telecom of the Philippines, Warid Telecom of Pakistan, Thailand's Advanced Info Service and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom.
In Australia, wholly-owned unit Optus saw a 12.4 percent rise in operating revenues to 2.2 billion Australian dollars (1.84 billion US) while net profit grew 13.4 percent to 139 million Australian dollars (116 million US). In the Singapore domestic market, SingTel made revenues of 1.38 billion dollars, up 10.3 percent over the year while net profit rose just 0.3 percent to 338 million dollars.
"Despite the challenging and competitive market conditions, the Singapore business delivered yet another set of strong quarterly results," said SingTel, the dominant telecom operator in the city-state. In recent years, the firm has branched out from its tiny domestic market of over four million people to regional markets, acquiring stakes in strategic mobile operators to drive growth. The company said Wednesday its regional mobile phone customer base grew 33 percent to more than 262 million in the year to June.