SingTel mobile users riase 4.1%
SingTel mobile users riase 4.1%
Andrea Tan, Bloomberg/Singapore
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia's largest
telephone company, said the total number of mobile-phone users in
seven countries in Asia rose 4.1 percent as of Sept. 30 from
three months earlier.
The number of mobile-phone users from Australia to India rose
to 74 million in the fiscal second quarter, from 71.14 million at
the end of June, the company said on Tuesday in a statement to
the Singapore Exchange. In Singapore, the company, known as
SingTel, added 47,000 customers, the highest quarterly gain since
March 2002, it said.
"This encouraging performance reflects the good response to
SingTel's new price offerings, which include the prepaid
initiatives such as free incoming calls," the company said.
Chief Executive Lee Hsien Yang, 48, has invested in mobile-
phone operators in India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines
and Bangladesh to counter maturing markets in Australia and
Singapore.
SingTel owns stakes in PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel),
Indonesia's biggest mobile-phone operator, Bharti Tele-Ventures
Ltd., India's largest, and Thailand's Advanced Info Service Pcl.
SingTel bought 45 percent of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom for
US$118 million in June and has an option to raise its stake to 60
percent. SingTel is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter
earnings on Nov. 10.
In Singapore, SingTel had 1.6 million mobile-phone subscribers
as of the end of September, from 1.55 million at the end of June,
the company said. It added about 30,000 pre-paid users and 17,000
customers who subscribe to monthly plans.
Globe Telecom Inc., the second-largest Philippine mobile-
phone company, had an 8.9 percent decline in subscribers from
June, after stopping free phone credits, SingTel said. Globe had
16.6 million mobile-phone users at the end of June.
SingTel's Australian Optus unit had 6.08 million customers,
from 6.03 million users at the end of June.
The company had a total of 56.35 million users in September
last year.
Shares of SingTel rose 1.3 percent to S$2.43 at the 12:30 p.m.
lunch break in Singapore.