SingTel eyes Asia-Pacific investments

SingTel eyes Asia-Pacific investments

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (SingTel)
is eying major investments in the Asia-Pacific region before
losing its domestic monopoly in 2000, a top official said in
remarks published Monday.

Allen Lew, chief operating officer of Singapore Telecom
International, the conglomerate's overseas investment arm, told
the Straits Times the company will now focus on the region after
a massive investment in Europe.

SingTel is targeting projects with the potential to bring in
S$100-150 million (US$70-107 million) in profits, he said.

The SingTel group invested about 900 million dollars for a
12.5-percent stake in the Belgian monopoly Belgacom, as part of
an international consortium that took 49.9-percent of the
company's equity.

"From now on, we will focus all our overseas efforts on the
Asia-Pacific region. With the exception of Belgacom, we will
probably not be going out of the Asia-Pacific region," Lew told
the newspaper.

Further investments in Europe, whose telecommunications market
is to be liberalized next year, would be done largely through
Belgacom, he said. SingTel currently has smaller investments in
Norway, Sweden and Britain.

The attention will be on Asia-Pacific projects because of
growth prospects and greater "interaction" with other countries
in the region, Lew said.

He said there would be "Belgacom-like deals" in Asia but
declined to give details, saying there were "general trends that
we see where there would be significant equity positions" in some
existing telephone companies "as we approach 2000 and beyond."