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."